Small Things Considered

Summer Vacation

by the STC team
We are taking our customary two week vacation. Do you think we deserve it ? Looking forward to seeing you again on July 13th ! Read more →

Viewing the Pulse of Earth, A Vital Sign

by Scott Chimileski and Roberto | Earth has a pulse. And at this time in hu­man his­to­ry, we can see it. In­stead of a heart­beat, Earth's sur­face pul­sa­tes with the ac­ti­vi­ty of tril­lions of or­gan­isms, each part of one, in­ter­con­nec­ted bio­sphere dri­ven by mi­cro­bi­al life. In­stead of beat­ing about once per se­cond, the bio­sphere beats around once a year. From 1997 to 2017,... Read more →

Mueller-Hinton Medium

by the STC team | On June 11th, we were addressed in a tweet by microbiologist Joe Harrison (@JoeHarrison1):"This seems like a timely topic for a blog or an article @ASMicrobiology @STCmicrobeblog. Mueller-Hinton agar is used globally and has standardized the study of #AMR. Before today, I'd never read the story of Jane Hinton @citeblackwomen"... Read more →

Retrospective, January to June 2020

by Elio
Here is the list of the posts from the last half year, briefly annotated. Read more →

In Memoriam: Roland Wolkowicz

by Forest Rohwer | In his 14 years at SDSU, Roland studied HIV as well as RNA viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes—how they affect cells and their possible drug treatments. He was known for a remarkable dedication to his students, refusing to step back from teaching even while severely weakened by advanced lung cancer and its treatment. Read more →

Little things matter, in both virology and your PhD

by Shuxuan Zheng | Blaise Pascal said that "Little things console us because little things afflict us." In the time of CO­VID-19, Pascal's words have never been more prescient. Viruses – those little things behind the global microbiological threat – demand not only our fear but also our respect. Read more →

Merry Youle, our Blogger Emerita has died

by Elio and the STC Team | Merry joined me almost at very inception of this blog. She modestly offered to proofread the ma­terial. Although she had a background in science (Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins, long ago), she had given it up in favor of an unconventional life. But, luck would have it, shortly before she contacted me, she had bought a microbiology textbook,... Read more →

Preparedness

by the STC team | Surely our readers have been en­cir­cled by news of the ra­pid­ly ex­pand­ing COVID-19 out­break. Or­di­na­ri­ly, at STC we do not co­ver cur­rent events. But these be­ing ex­tra­or­di­na­ry times, we de­ci­ded to pre­sent a few thoughts on the need for pre­pa­red­ness in the face of this pan­demic. We were great­ly in­spir­ed by the com­mu­ni­ca­tion work that Rich Lenski has... Read more →

Winter Vacation

We take advantage of this being the season for re­joic­ing, and take our customary two week winter va­ca­tion. When we return in 2019, on January 6th, we will enter the 14th year of Small Things Considered. Read more →

Happy Thirteenth Birthday Small Things Considered!

by Elio and Roberto | This coming Sunday, December 1st, we'll be celebrating the thirteenth birthday of STC. Now a teenager! The blog has matured to over 1300 posts, two per week with virtually no interruptions. This is something that makes us very happy. When we think about it, if we were to print all those posts on standard letter size paper... Read more →