What sensory information allows you to recognize/identify microbial activities in their natural settings? Read more →
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On the end of a leash
by Vivienne Baillie Gerritsen — It has been a long time since I saw a plug hanging from the side of a bathtub. Remember the small triangular ring the chain dangled from, and the actual plug at the other end – usually a piece of black and slimy rubber that fitted perfectly into the plug hole. As a child, the perfection of the fit used to fascinate me and... Read more →
A Whiff of Taxonomy – Baudoinia compniacensis
by Roberto — Several of our past posts described volatile organic compounds of microbial origin that influence our behavior. Acetates from wine, geosmin from soil. Not only are they enjoyable in the moment, such scents often elicit memories. I now offer the opposite perspective, a microbe whose ecology is influenced by a volatile organic compound of human origin. Baudoinia compniacensis, enter center stage. Read more →
An Eau de Microbe for Every Memory
by Janie — It is terpenes like geosmin and many other molecules of microbial make that imbue so much of the world with scents. Commercial perfumes, too, are principally scented by terpenes and their derivatives and other molecules that are aromatic (aromatic both in the sense of... Read more →
An Illustrated Tree
by Roberto — From the fundamental concepts of biology, the fact that all organisms now alive share a common ancestor (LUCA) ranks as one of my favorites. When I pause to consider that, despite four billion years of evolution and divergence, my ribosomal RNA shares some stretches of sequence identity with all other autonomous organisms, I still get goose bumps... Read more →
Putrescence and Poetry
by Corrado Nai — Flickering stars filigree the cosmic void. A green, incandescent planet bursts on the screen. We didn't know we were watching a science fiction movie. Drumrolls climax into the next frame. Suddenly, fiction is stripped away, and in a heartbeat we are thrown into the heart of science and culture. We are not staring at the infinitely large but observing the minuscule at work. Read more →
The Atlas of Cell Structure
by Roberto — Our knowledge of the structure of microbial cells just keeps getting better as the resolution of imaging techniques continues to increase. A key player in this rapidly evolving technological field is cryo-electron tomography (cryoET) which, aided by powerful computational tools, allows for the generation of three-dimensional images of whole microbial cells... Read more →
Women in Microbiology Who Fought for Equality, Science, and our World!
by Microbigals — International Women's day is all about embracing equity! So, we'd love to share some of the amazing women throughout history and around the world that overcame hardships, fought for their rights to be scientists, and embraced equity! Their contributions to other microbiologists, to their communities, to women in STEM, have helped pave the way... Read more →
The van Leeuwenhoek Medal
by Roberto — When it comes to awards recognizing major contributions to microbiology, my personal favorite is the van Leeuwenhoek Medal given by the Royal Dutch Society for Microbiology. Unlike most such accolades that are presented year after year, this honor has a long tradition of being awarded every ten years (more or less). I believe... Read more →