This is really cool. Or, actually, really hot. A new paper is out from Regina L. Wilpiszeski, Zhidan Zhang, and Christopher H. House at Penn State on their cool (oops again, hot) Citizen Microbiology project on microbes in water heaters. See the paper here Biogeography of thermophiles and predominance of Thermus scotoductus in domestic water heaters | …
The initial discovery of microorganisms by Robert Hooke and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in the mid to late 1600’s was an exploration of wonder. The two were some of the first to visually journey into the microscopic realm with the aid of simple microscopes. They turned their gaze to the ordinary spaces around us. Pouring into …
Scientists found an army of microbes feeding on a 17th-century canvas. Then they declared war. Source: Bacteria spores can kill painting-eating bacteria Interesting applied use of bacteria discussed in this story. Based on a PLOS One paper. Not ready for prime time yet but interesting idea – to introduce new microbes to try and control …
A few days ago I posted the first few lines of an adaptation of a poem: The love song of J. Romaine Lettuce: Lettuce go then, E. coli, While evenly spread out your counts are high Make a patient etherized upon a table; Lettuce go, through certain half-soiled sheets, The muttering retweets … I did …
Completely fascinating, and a wee bit terrifying new paper worth a read:: Ecological Analyses of Mycobacteria in Showerhead Biofilms and Their Relevance to Human Health Abstract: Bacteria within the genus Mycobacterium can be abundant in showerheads, and the inhalation of aerosolized mycobacteria while showering has been implicated as a mode of transmission in nontuberculous mycobacterial …
Source: Opinion | Discovering the Great Indoors Definitely worth checking out this opinion piece in the NY Times bye Rob Dunn on “Discovering the Great Indoors”. It has a bit about Van Leeuwenhoek, and bits about fungi and lice and bacteria and tardigrades and foldscope and more. Rob Dunn is really one of the great …
I am compiling information on past, present and future “Citizen Microbiology” projects. Basically I am looking for examples of projects that could fit VERY BROADLY into the concept of citizen or participatory science and involve microbes. Examples include: Participatory Research Classes such as SeaPhages https://seaphages.org Tiny Earth https://tinyearth.wisc.edu Human Microbiome Sample Crowdsourcing The American Gut Project http://americangut.org …
Really exciting sounding postdoc opportunity with Parag Vaishampayan at JPL, “Metagenomics approach for genetic inventory of microbes to identify, document, and archive broadest spectrum of potential terrestrial contaminants during the spacecraft assembly process“. Plus I have to say that is the coolest looking recruitment banner that I’ve ever seen in my life. Job posting here. …
This article may be of interest – especially to people in my area of the world (i.e., the Central Valley in CA). Experts say a drier climate means more dust storms, which carry the fungus that causes the disease. New laws and money address the issue. Is that enough? Source: With Climate Change, Valley Fever …
Just got this e-mail regarding an upcoming NASEM Webinar “Microbiome, Wastewater Treatment, and Antibiotic Resistance” on 9/25/18. Here’s the description of the event: In 2017, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine released the report, Microbiomes of the Built Environment: A Research Agenda for Indoor Microbiology, Human Health, and Buildings. The report highlights the importance …