by Elio — This is the time of the year of increased physical activity when we pay special attention to certain parts of the body, including the armpit. As is usually the case, our microbiota is involved because the odor associated with sweating is produced by microbial activity. The main culprits are skin… Read more →
An Evolutionary Tale of Zombie Ants and Fungal Villains & Knights
by Gemma Reguera — In a recent post I shared with you some amazing things I had learnt about coprophilous (‘dung-loving’) fungi that spit their spores like pros. What I did not tell you then is that my six-year-old son also fell in love with the spitting fungi (dung + spit = child’s interest!)… Read more →
It’s Raining Viruses!
by Merry Youle — It’s true! Each year it rains viruses, more than a trillion of them per acre over thousands of forested acres in the USA. This is the work of the airborne arm of the USDA Forest Service, part of their efforts to reduce the devastation to hardwood forests caused by the imported gypsy moth… Read more →
The Leopard and the Mouse: A Microbiologist's Take
by Fred Neidhardt — Nineteen-year-old photography student Casey Gutteridge captured this extraordinary scene at the Santago Rare Leopard Project in Hertfordshire, UK. Casey, who was photographing the leopard Sheena for a course project, said: "I have no idea where the mouse came from — he just appeared in the enclosure after the keeper had dropped in the meat for the leopard". Read more →
Acoustical Mimicry
by Elio — We seldom stray from microbial domains, but here is a stunning (and delightful) reason for wandering further afield. After all, examples of parasitism are surely not confined to the Small Things and lessons can be learned wherever they appear. According to a group of researchers from England and Italy, parasites of some ants mimic the sounds made by the queen of a colony. The ants in question are... Read more →
Tales From Planet Fungus
by Ilham Naili — It was two years ago that I offered to my sister for her birthday the DVD set of Planet Earth, and I started to watch some episodes with her. A particular episode was memorable for both of us, as we watched an ant being literally possessed by an infecting fungus. Read more →
Fungal Cuckoo
by Elio — Cuckoo birds have an unsavory reputation for laying their eggs in somebody else’s nest. There the eggs are tended with care by duped surrogate parents. When hatched, the young cuckoos unceremoniously push their nestmates over the edge and, in a case of consummate avian chutzpah, open their maw to... Read more →
Dive! Dive! Dive!
by Eddy Mateescu — This urgent call, borrowed from movies about submarine warfare, applies to this non-microbial posting that is intended as an appetizer for the fascinating subject of parasite modification of host behavior. Read more →