Small Things Considered

Of Terms in Biology: Dysbiosis

by Elio | Dysbiosis is a fairly old term but one that seems to have gained con­si­der­able cur­ren­cy lately. Its ori­gin is from the Greek dys (bad, difficult) + biōsis (mode of life, from: bios life).  It is used to de­note an im­bal­ance in some­one's mi­cro­biome, human, animal, or plant. Read more →

Remembering a Remarkable Man

by Roberto | Outdoors the air was crisp, as it should be for a late Oc­to­ber even­ing in Maine. In­doors, with lit logs crack­ling in the fire­place, the twelve of us sat fully ab­sorbed in the nar­ra­tive spok­en by our spe­cial guest. The soft tone of his voice, the sparkle in his eyes, and his joy­ful smile framed the story­telling per­fect­ly. That even­ing, this gentle man... Read more →

A Change in the Plan of Construction

by Roberto | On occasion you might come across an odd-look­ing plant where the flower or­gan has been re­placed by a leafy struc­ture. To the ama­teur gar­dener this will seem a re­mark­able cur­iosi­ty, to the pro­fes­sio­nal plant grower it will sig­ni­fy sub­stan­tial eco­no­mic los­ses. To Jo­hann Wolf­gang von Goethe such sights meant the... Read more →

The Dead Sea Scrolls come under the Genomic ’Scope

by Elio | In this blog, we usually stick to mi­cro­bio­lo­gi­cal to­pics, but when one of bib­li­cal pro­por­tions comes along, we do not fight it. We are in fact plea­sed to con­si­der news about the Dead Sea Scrolls, the 1000 or so frag­ments of an­cient do­cu­ments found in ca­ves and else­where in the Ju­de­an De­sert. Their dis­co­ve­ry is thought to be... Read more →

Wonders Of A Stagnant Pool

by Tuffen West (1823−1891)
After long confinement to the house, whether from ill­ness or an un­usu­al pres­sure of en­gage­ments, how de­light­ful to turn out for a stroll in the fresh pure air ! Un­heed­ed­whether it rain or shine, if a na­tu­ra­list of the true stamp, all around seems to wel­come him, and care and trouble for the time fly... Read more →

The ASM President Speaks: "ASM Touches So Many, At So Many Levels"

by Robin Patel | I have been touched with the way ASM unites microbiologists, elevating microbiology for scientists and the communities in which we live. It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve as ASM President over the past year, a year which could reasonably be considered, the year everyone was a microbiologist. Read more →

Of Terms in Biology: Purifying Selection

by Elio | To me at least, this is a relatively unaccustomed term for an old phe­no­me­non, namely the removal of deleterious mutants from a popula­tion. (As Christoph points out, this does not refer to clean­ing up your lab bench.) Also known as negative selection, puri­fy­ing selection results in the stabili­zation of the population by ridding... Read more →

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 →