Small Things Considered

A blog for sharing appreciation of the width and depth of microbes and microbial activities on this planet.

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Lost & Found #3

by Christoph — If you want to leave 𝕏 (formerly Twitter) for any reason, you can deactivate or completely delete your account. That's it then. But if you want to take a few still interesting bookmarks with you when you move out, well, then the 𝕏odus takes a little longer. Here are three more of these salvaged bookmarks, in 'Lost & Found #3'. Read more →

Posted on February 10, 2025 at 01:30 AM in Odds & Ends | Permalink | Comments (0)

Defining Life with Aristotle

by Chelsi Cassilly and Eric Bodlak — What is life? Initially, it seems like a simple question. The immediate response is often to compare and contrast the many things we encounter daily that are animate and inanimate. Yet this question becomes harder the longer you sit with it. Because life on this planet – that is, life as we know it – includes microbial life... Read more →

Posted on February 03, 2025 at 01:30 AM in Evolution, Odds & Ends | Permalink | Comments (0)

Did organs precede organisms in the dawn of life?

by Fernando Baquero — We are commemorating the centennial of the first significant scientific hypothesis aimed at understanding the origin of life, published in 1924 by Alexander Ivánovich Oparin (1894-1980). The implicit message in this wonderful-to-read publication, but not expressed as such in the text, is that life arises in a kind of primordial soup of organic and inorganic molecules dissolved in hot water. Read more →

Posted on January 27, 2025 at 01:30 AM in Evolution, Odds & Ends | Permalink | Comments (0)

Is there a future for STC?

by Roberto — The short answer to that question is an enthusiastic YES! Of course, there is a future for STC, and I think it is bright. The long answer, well... that's what this post is all about It requires that I give you the background story first. Read more →

Posted on January 20, 2025 at 01:30 AM in Odds & Ends | Permalink | Comments (0)

Winter Vacation

By the STC team — We take advantage of this being the season for re­joic­ing, and em­bark on a five-week win­ter vaca­tion. When we re­turn in 2025, on Ja­nua­ry 20, we will en­ter the 19th year of Small Things Con­sider­ed. Read more →

Posted on December 16, 2024 at 01:52 AM in Odds & Ends | Permalink | Comments (0)

Retrospective, July to December 2024

by the STC team — Did you miss some of our posts from the past six months? Do you want to re-read your favorites? Just scroll to quickly scan through the list of our posts from the last half year, arranged by categories. Read more →

Posted on December 09, 2024 at 02:23 AM in Housekeeping, Odds & Ends | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lost & Found #2

by Christoph — On our way out of 𝕏 (formerly Twitter), we look through our soon-to-be-obsolete "bookmarks" and show you what shouldn't just end up in the bin. Here are three more salvaged bookmarks in 'Lost & Found #2'. Read more →

Posted on December 02, 2024 at 01:30 AM in Odds & Ends | Permalink | Comments (0)

Genomes by AI

by Roberto — Two years ago I played, simultaneously amused and bemused, with ChatGPT. It was clear artificial intelligence (AI) had taken a quantum leap. While I did not get to play with it, reading about Evo last week evoked similar feelings; it left me both in awe and slightly unnerved. In case you missed it, Evo does with genome sequences what ChatGPT does with words, i.e., almost everything. Read more →

Posted on November 21, 2024 at 01:20 AM in Odds & Ends | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lost & Found #1

by Christoph — STC will be leaving 𝕏 (formerly Twitter) in the near future. Over the coming months, at irregular intervals, I'll be sifting through my bookmarks on 𝕏 and share with you what I found, two or three tweets at a time. This is 'Lost & Found #1'. Read more →

Posted on November 14, 2024 at 01:30 AM in Odds & Ends | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pictures Considered #64: Emergent Properties

by Roberto — Some years ago, when Scott Chimileski wrote 'Life at the Edge of Sight', we wanted to present two images that displayed emergent properties of organisms expressing collective behavior. We came up with this pair of photographs, whose scales differ by seven orders of magnitude. Read more →

Posted on November 07, 2024 at 01:11 AM in Odds & Ends | Permalink | Comments (0)

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