Old photographs often are unique artifacts that provide a realistic look into the recent human history. However, many of these older printed photos are deteriorating, due to humidity, temperature, extended light exposure, and biodeterioration. Scientific Reports published a nice paper this week about the microbes found on and in old photographs, called Microbial communities affecting albumen photography heritage: …
As you all know, we are not alone in living in buildings. We have lots of things that live with us, some are invited guests like our pets and some we may or may not appreciate. Today I came across a lovely book by Richard Jones on insects that live in houses with us: House Guests, …
From Pat Schloss: Hi mothur users, I wanted to let you know that I will be teaching another of my R workshops for microbial ecologists this May. The workshop will run from May 23rd to 25th near the Detroit airport. The workshop is being filled on a first come, first served basis. The workshop is …
Your weekly update of the literature on microbes of the built environment sensu lato. Microbes in the house Rhinitis, Ocular, Throat and Dermal Symptoms, Headache and Tiredness among Students in Schools from Johor Bahru, Malaysia: Associations with Fungal DNA and Mycotoxins in Classroom Dust – Dan Norbäck – PLOS ONE (OA) There are few studies …
An oversight of the new papers that I found covering the intersection of humans, buildings, and microbes. Microbes in buildings Diversity of Bacterial Communities on Four Frequently Used Surfaces in a Large Brazilian Teaching Hospital – Tairacan Augusto Pereira da Fonseca – MDPI Int J Environ Res Public Health (OA) In this study, we aimed …
One of the most commonly quoted bits of information about the microbiome is that bacteria outnumber human cells 10 to 1. That figure has been widespread in media and promotional posters. It’s even on a a poster I got at ASM visualizing the basics of the human microbiome. But I have had a number of …
The planned Sloan Early Career Workshop in Costa Rica (for which abstracts are due January 30th) has been cancelled due to concerns over Zika virus. The Workshop will be rescheduled… possibly in Chicago or New Orleans. We will post details once everything has been worked out.
There is a new open access paper of possible interest to those working on water systems, green buildings, and/or microbial ecology: Survey of green building water systems reveals elevated water age and water quality concerns – Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology (RSC Publishing) DOI:10.1039/C5EW00221D By William J. Rhoads, Amy Pruden and Marc A. Edwards in Environmental …
I’ve been seeing a lot of media articles recently on applications of gut microbiome research in health in terms of pills and probiotics. One article talks about a start-up that is trying to create various pills filled with bacteria associated with different positive health effects. Of course, there is the question if such probiotics will thrive in …
See attached a flyer for the undergraduate course “Evolution in Human-Altered Environments” (ETX 198-003; CRN 43875). This course will be taught Spring quarter 2016, MWF 9-9:50 AM, instructor Dr. Andrew Whitehead ETX198-Flyer2.pdf