Biosynthetic genes for many antibiotics evolved hundreds of millions of years ago. Resistance genes evolved concurrently among neighboring bacteria. If most neighbors to antibiotic producers are resistant, what is... Read more →
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Primo Levi's periodic table, and when scientists write fiction
by Janie — There are lots of fantastic books that convey love of a science, depict the braided lines of logic and intuition and luck in experimentation, and depict scientists' lives both in and beyond the lab. Memoir, fiction, biography. 'Science' as metaphor for life, these books will frequently allude to... Read more →
Nature's Drug Factories: Visualising the Invisible
by Munro Passmore — For general audiences, science can often seem impenetrable to understand because of its inherent scale and complexity. This is particularly true in the field of natural products – where we seek to understand the processes microscopic organisms undertake to make molecules we later use as... Read more →
Of Terms in Biology: DGGE
by Christoph — DGGE, to keep the title short, stands for denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. You may wonder what an electrophoresis technique is doing in our 'of Terms in Biology' section, but it was once a nifty way to explore microbial diversity in environmental samples. And sometimes it still is, which struck me... Read more →
Fine Reading: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
by Mechas Zambrano and Roberto — The earliest roots of science can be traced to ancient times in which so-called 'natural philosophers' attempted to explain the world around them. However, the word science, coined in the 14th century, and the concept of science as the pursuit of knowledge... Read more →
Ice Ice Maybe
by Janie — The ability to trigger ice formation is a property shared by certain particles both organic and inorganic, including bacteria, viruses, phytoplankton, pollen, soot, dust. These little particles help water molecules come together and form ice at warmer temperatures than freezing point... Read more →
Angela Restrepo – Living on Through Memory
by Mechas Zambrano — Today we can easily bring to mind the names of many women scientists who serve as inspiration and role models. But this was not always the case. Even in the mid-20th century, women in science were few and far between, especially in developing nations... Read more →
A Dinoflagellate and its Mucosphere
by Christoph — There are strikingly different table manners among human cultures past and present when it comes to food ingestion, who wouldn't know. Not so with our single-celled eukaryotic relatives, the protists, who gobble up everything that feels and smells about right? Wrong. Engulfment, as biologists call this behavioral process is a bit like putting a bowl of ramen noodles to your lips and... Read more →
Escherichia coli – Flagship Bacterium of Molecular Biology
by Roberto — There is little doubt that Escherichia coli is a favorite of ours here at STC. E. coli fans from around the world seem to get a special thrill when we post any new development arising from studies on this astonishing model bacterium. We are so taken by it that our coverage has gone beyond describing research. Previously on STC... Read more →