by Roberto — Almost exactly one year ago, I wrote a post on the key role played by a group of Spanish scientists in the early development of microbial molecular ecology. My main point was to drive home how the work they carried out in the early 1970s on species successions in the human gut... Read more →
On Forgetting
by Mechas — A recent essay by Melissa Kirsch of the New York Times highlights what seems to be a prevalent concern: forgetfulness. The constant exposure to an ever-growing barrage of media, especially as we grow old(er), has its toll. Even though remembering and forgetting are essential to processing information and learning as we meander through life, an excess of data can result in overflow and storage problems. Read more →
A lesson from the comb jelly, deep-sea bacteria, and some obliging E. coli on how to thrive under pressure
by Janie — I sometimes google "Small Things Considered + a biological term of choice" looking for older articles, to see if any paradigms have changed in the span of a decade or so. In doing so, I came across this post from 2010 on plasmalogens, membrane lipids with an ether bond linking the glycerol... Read more →
The Deep Biosphere – A Video
by Roberto — It may be because it carries on so very slowly or because it is so deeply buried. Who knows, but I find the abundant microbial life of the deep biosphere thoroughly mesmerizing. That's why I was thrilled by a video on the subject that Memo Berkmen – long-time friend and STC fan – brought to my attention. It's only natural that I now share it with you. Read more →
How E. coli Rose to Prominence – Just One More Addendum (1|2)
by Christoph — While Roberto looked deep into the fascinating past of 'How E. coli rose to prominence' in two of his recent posts, I will take a look around ahead here in 'Just One More Addendum', and a wider look around in 'Again, One More Addendum' in an upcoming post. But that was it for the time being with this 'Ecolimania' here in STC... Read more →
Extreme ORFs
by Roberto — If you were to plot the frequency of all known open reading frames (ORFs) as a function of the number codons they contain you'd see a broad distribution showing an average of about three hundred codons and a long tail of very long ORFs. Just for fun, what are the very end points of the graph? What is the longest ORF known? And the shortest? Read more →
Pictures Considered #63: Images Can Shape Us
by Roberto — It used to be that, when I closed my eyes and thought back, searching for a defining moment that sparked my life-long passion for molecular biology, this image came vividly to mind. Most memories lie buried, coming back only mysteriously, and often without cue. This one, though, is clear. Read more →
How E. coli Rose to Prominence – An Addendum
by Roberto — In an era of microbiology largely dominated by research surrounding previously unimaginable extent of microbial diversity, here at STC we still have a strong affection for the advances made investigating model bacteria; prime amongst these is E. coli. Thus, it is no surprise that we are fascinated by the history of E. coli research. Read more →
Digital Sequence Information
by Mechas — Microbiologists regularly use sequence data without giving it much thought. What will surprise many scientists is that its use is now being hotly debated in international scenarios such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Read more →
«Anything that can be regulated...
by Christoph — ...will be regulated» Thus goes a lesser‑known but tried-and-tested amendment of Murphy's law among molecular biologists. Practitioners, especially students struggling with their own first PCR and cloning experiments in the lab, are familiar with the original «Anythings that can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time.» I don't need to dwell... Read more →