Small Things Considered

Talmudic Question #209

Talmudic Question #209 — What general rules do you see emerging from the ongoing studies of microbial communities that will inform our understanding of their function? Read more →

Kool & The Gang − Celebration

by Christoph — Other than the title Kool & The Gang − Cele­bra­tion sug­gests, this post is not about the R&B band of past glories and their big­gest hit, but in­stead ce­le­brates the true "cool kids", mush­rooms − bio­lo­gi­cal­ly cor­rect fun­gi − and their "hy­po­ther­mic nature", stu­died by Cor­de­ro et al. (2023). Read more →

A Whiff of Taxonomy – Among Vampires

by Christoph — Elio wrote 'A table for Two' many years ago, about the sur­pris­ing ob­ser­va­tion that the Gram‑ne­ga­tive bac­terium Vib­rio vul­ni­fi­cus can be preyed upon si­mul­tan­eous­ly by a bac­terio­phage and a "bac­terio­vor­ous" bac­ter­ium. He could not have figured that the single image in his piece is a per­fect vig­net­te for the great­ly in­creased in­terest... Read more →

Le bal des vampires

by Christoph — To­day for a change a mo­vie re­view : The re­make of the 1967 clas­sic 'Le bal des vam­pires' by Ro­man Po­lanski. ... They had cast­ed Caulo­bac­ter cres­centus as the inn­keeper's pretty daugh­ter Sarah, and as the vil­lain Count von Kro­lock none other than Bdello­vibrio exo­vorus (no, not the better known Bdello­vibrio bac­terio­vorus). Read more →

Contamination in Microbiology

by Mechas — Anyone who has worked in a microbiology lab can empathize with the anguish of having a contaminant ruin your experiment. In many cases, such as in clinical laboratories or in the food industry, contaminants can prove devastating and challenging to control. When dealing with environmental samples, on the other hand, contaminants are the norm. Read more →

Phages Unleashed: The Heist of CRISPR Repeats

by Sarah Camara-Wilpert and David Mayo-Muñoz — Bacteria, just like humans, are frequently infected by viruses (bacteriophages or phages). Phages replicate at the expense of their hosts, killing them and the process releases hundreds of progeny into the environment to complete their life cycle. The end of bacteria? Not so fast! Read more →

Andrew Wright (1935−2023)

by Roberto — This past October 9th, microbiology lost an extraordinary member when Andrew Wright died. Those of us fortunate to have interacted with him over the years lost a very good friend. Even on a first meeting it was impossible not to sense his kindness and genuine interest in the conversation, underscored by his gentle smile and an endearing Scottish accent. Read more →

Chemotaxis Praxis

by Janie — In storytelling, there is a famous principle called Chekhov's gun. "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise, don't put it there." This pithy (and very debatable) directive, attributed to the eponymous playwright, smells a whole lot like the (similarly very debatable) viewpoint of adaptationism... Read more →

How many bacterial pathogens infect humans?

by Roberto — In casual conversations I used to say that the number of bacteria causing human disease was small, a few dozen, perhaps around 100. Was I wrong! A paper by Bartlett et al. (2022) puts the number at 1513 and growing rapidly... Read more →