It seems like the forces of light have triumphed somewhere around September 2006: …as have their evil counterparts, April 2009: bacteria are neck-in-neck with humans: But they beat the largest creatures on Earth: Of course, you can’t beat cats:
“Well, in our country,” said Alice, still panting a little, “you’d generally get to somewhere else — if you run very fast for a long time, as we’ve been doing.” “A slow sort of country!” said the Queen. “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same [...]
Back to ancient life, what exactly defines life, and where does life end and non-life begin. One of my favorite subjects, and one of which I am the least knowledgeable. Doesn’t stop me writing about it though. Viruses are… well… not really life. Or so says common wisdom. They have some elements of life: a [...]
This commentary appeared in Nature recently. Title: Ancient Fungi Found in Deep Sea Mud. Quote: Researchers have found evidence of fungi thriving far below the floor of the Pacific Ocean, in nutrient-starved sediments more than 100 million years old….To follow up on earlier reports of deep-sea fungi, Reese and her colleagues studied sediments pulled up from [...]
Too busy with grant deadlines, and preparations for the looming ISMB 2012. (Including, of course, the Automated Function Prediction meeting.) So here are two nice vids to pass the time. Jennifer Gardy and Tom Scott made this great A-Z of bacteria video. Guaranteed to freak out your kids, or yourself. So how many of those [...]
Yesterday was Shavuot. That wonderful holiday which includes midnight studies, water-bombing and dairy products. Mmmmm…. cheese. A food product heavily embedded in the science of microbiology. Cheese is the founding product of the biotech industry (along with beer and bread). So here’s to Lactobacilli and Lactococci which are at the center of the production of [...]
We have some really talented students in our department. And I don’t just mean the science. I am honored to present the colorful and hilarious microbial artwork of Amber Beckett. Created between gel runs at Natosha Finley’s lab:
Prepared by daughter. Not to scale. Species not yet identified. Delicious.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn’t: I’m not dead. The Dead Collector: What? Large Man with Dead Body: Nothing. There’s your ninepence. The Dead Body That Claims It Isn’t: I’m not dead. The Dead Collector: ‘Ere, he says he’s not dead. Large Man with Dead Body: Yes he is. The Dead Body That [...]
Good news: Press Release 2011-10-03 The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has today decided that The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2011 shall be divided, with one half jointly to Bruce A. Beutler and Jules A. Hoffmann for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity and the other half to Ralph M. Steinman [...]
