Microbes in space have been of interest to the folks at various space agencies for as long as we’ve been sending people into space. Rampant mold growth on the Russian Space Station Mir was probably one of the reasons for the decision to “deorbit” the station (a fancy way of describing crashing into the ocean). …
Researchers at Virginia Tech’s Center for Science and Engineering of the Exposome (SEE) recently published a critical review in ES&T examining the “exposome of the built environment” and proposed engineering strategies for its control. The exposome is defined as our lifetime exposure to chemicals, microbes, and radiation and derives from anything we come into …
“Should we always antibiotics until the end of their course?” Well, this has been a question asked on and off over the last 10 years or so. And this I was quite interested in a Tweet I saw from Eric Topol this AM (I note – Eric Topol on Twitter is a better source of …
There is a new preprint that was posted recently in the PsyArXiv that may (or even should) be of interest: Redefine statistical significance by Benjamin al. One sentence summary from the authors: We propose to change the default P-value threshold for statistical significance for claims of new discoveries from 0.05 to 0.005. First page or so: …
What does a robin have to do with fighting the next pandemic. No, this is not about weird viruses in birds (though I am sure there are some). This is about a Field Guide to the Microbes. I am writing about this topic because I got pointed to a interesting blog post by a tweet …
This looks pretty cool Source: Superbugs | Longitude Prize From their site Destroy deadly bacteria and keep humanity’s precious antibiotics working for as long as you can in this free, fast-paced, and addictive action game. The story of this casual, real-time puzzle game comes straight from today’s headlines: The rise of superbugs, resistant bacteria which …
There is a wonderful tribute to Norm Pace in the Atlantic by Ed Yong. Norm Pace truly did blow the door off the microbial world. Source: Norm Pace Blew The Door Off The Microbial World – The Atlantic Lots of good stuff in there about Pace and his career. See for example this: Pace also …
Just got an email pointing me to this White Paper on Figshare …… Seems like a worthy ambition and worth a look. Some key bits: Vision The rapid pace of scientific advancement presents a continuing challenge to effective life science education. The genomics revolution brings with it a unique challenge for the biology educator, as …
Quick post here. This is definitely worth a look for those interested in hospital acquired infections, microbial genomics, and genomic epidemiology or related topics. LivaNova plant in Germany is the likely source behind outbreak that has sickened more than 100 people since 2013. Source: DNA Links Deadly Germs, Tainted Heart Surgery Devices To German Factory …
This is truly awesome — sculptures of microbes on display in New York. What better place for a giant statue of E. coli? Source: New York City Salutes a Fecal Microbe That Sickens Millions From the article: Still, the folks behind the show acknowledge that this is a microbe with an image problem.“We were well …