Whoosh! That's the sound we hear as we journey into the wonderful world of the small in a new microbiology children's book by Lindsey Millar. Today, we chat with Lindsey on about her process for creating books, the switch from the lab bench to science communication, and more!
(more…)Category: Science Communication
Knitting and Crocheting Microbes
I learned to crochet a few months ago for one reason: to make microbes. Though I have been knitting since I was a middle schooler, it wasn’t until this year that I learned to crochet. I learned the basics - how to chain, how to single crochet, etc. It turns out that after understanding a few of the basics, I could start creating microbial amigurumis, small stuffed yarn microbes. (more…)
Reminiscing About My Microbe Moment on the Microbigal’s Podcast
What’s my microbe moment - the moment I realized that microbes were going to change my life?
A few months ago, the Microbigals blog reached out to me about a podcast episode they were planning, one that celebrates the diverse perspectives amongst microbiology science communicators: our favorite moments with microbes, how we got into microbiology, and the coolest microbiology experiences we’ve encountered. (more…)
Microbiology Talk: Four Microbiology Podcasts to Check Out
The Olympics: Microbes vs. Humans
As the world watches the Olympics, the journal Nature Microbiology hosted the Microbial Olympics.
Here are some highlights from this year's Microbial Olympics events:
(1) Synchronized swarming: Swarming is a coordinated movement of bacterial populations to spread out over solid or semi-solid surfaces. Swarming speeds are comparable to swimming speeds in the same organism. In the synchronized swarming competition, bacterial populations are judged on how quickly they swarm on a semi-solid agar surface. Bacterial populations start in the middle of the surface and move outwards to the finish line. The medalists for this event are the well known swarmers, Vibrio parahaemolyticus (gold), Proteus mirabilis (silver) and Bacillus subtilis (bronze). (more…)