Great seminar today at #UCSB by @symbionticism.bsky.social discussing 100+ years of work on #Wolbachia! An impressive animal -> microbe -> virus interaction!

Great time at the #microbialdarkmatter meeting at Laguna beach with the Volland lab! Good talks and posters and great discussions! @zymoresearch.bsky.social @vollandlab.bsky.social

Ultimately, this letter from NSF is an announcement that universities will be funded a lot less and politically-connected industry will be funded a lot more. Fancy words around old-fashioned corruption.

NSF leadership in a new golden age of science

The U.S. National Science Foundation was established in 1950 to keep American discovery at the frontier. That mission has not changed. The science and technology ecosystem around it has...

nsf.gov

Limits and frontiers of microbial phenotype measurements Current Opinion in Microbiology by @tacaro.bsky.social, @quantaofgeorge.bsky.social, Jonas Cremer, Shin Haruta, and @shougroup.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Whoa - stumbled into a similar thought about the Observer's Paradox in my talk last week at #ISME20. This is much more in depth! Nice @quantaofgeorge.bsky.social Limits and frontiers of microbial phenotype measurements www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #jcampubs

Our new opinion piece is out! @tacaro.bsky.social How you measure a microbe shapes what you learn about it. We make the case for a microbial observer effect, and what it means for experimental design: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Getting a closer look at those microbes with @kohtzarchaeota.bsky.social! #thermophiles #hotsprings #ISME #ISME20

Post #ISME20 hiking at Taranaki Maunga with @kohtzarchaeota.bsky.social with our awesome #ISME backpacks

Walking the west coast of New Zealand and passed this large iron concretion that had come come out of the sand stone. All I see is a space helmet!

The narrowing prokaryote–eukaryote divide reveals a complexity spectrum

The narrowing prokaryote–eukaryote divide reveals a complexity spectrum

Cellular organisms can be divided into two basic types of cells: the prokaryotic cells of Bacteria and Archaea and the eukaryotic cells. The rapidly expanding knowledge of the diversity and ultrastructure of prokaryotic cells has revealed cellular intricacies that warrant a critical reappraisal of the profundity of the prokaryote–eukaryote divide.

dlvr.it

Ok, here's the final draft of my Microbe expansion for Terraforming Mars: tinyurl.com/4v4majy4. All thematic and scientifically correct! 44 projects cards, 4 prelude cards, 2 cooperations, 1 file w special tiles (+1 fixed colony card, 1 fixed project card). Will update after play tests. 🦠🔬

It’s funny to me that we have spent so much of sci-fi literature warning of a dependence on computers/machines/AI and here we go jumping feet first into a brave new world…

“Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought” - Albert Szent-Györgyi

Far from usable in microbiology but still an impressive build for a Raman spectrometer!

Hackaday@hackadayofficial.bsky.social · 3mo ago

2026 Frikkin Lasers Challenge: A 3D-Printed Raman Spectrometer

Here is another lab build! I wanted to control the atmosphere my microbes are exposed to while imaging on our #Leica DMi8 but we didn’t have a box to do this. The design even prints the hose barbs needed for the gas. #microscopy #diylab www.thingiverse.com/thing:7376148

Do you use a gassing station in your lab for anaerobic cultivation work? Here is a small printable design I made to build a gas manifold for your tubing. It’s simple and efficient and keeps your total costs well below $20 #diylab #microbiology #cultivation www.thingiverse.com/thing:7376152

Gas manifold wall mount for anaerobic microbiology by georgeschaible

A wall-mounted backplate that holds four three-way luer-lock stopcocks in a row to build a low-cost gassing station. The clips snap onto standard disposable medical three-way stopcocks (around 11.75 m...

thingiverse.com

Small and simple are not the same thing. Microorganisms hide a universe of complexity that spans scales, challenges our assumptions, and reminds us that life is full of mysteries still yet to be explored.

Another small #DIY electronics project. This one is a Li battery powered portable sulfide sensor that reads sulfide, temperature, and humidity and has a SD card so data can be logged in real time. The LEDs on the side are for different levels of sulfide exposure. Good for the field and lab! #science

A cleaner and updated version of the micromanipulator build! All the electronics are in the box and the OLED now displays the estimated distance moved in micrometers. Speed switch and Z-axis indicator on top as well #diy #science #microsensor

Who wants to spend $1,000 for something you can build for $50? Arduino to the rescue #sciencehack #diyscience #arduino #EnvironmentalMicrobiology

Biosignatures aren’t always simply life or not life. I am excited to share our recent paper where we discuss a process-driven approach to interpreting ancient rocks, focusing on how multiple signals interact over time rather than binary biotic vs. abiotic outcomes. www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Toward Process-Driven Research in Astrobiology: Stepping Away from the Binary Biogenicity Versus Abiogenicity Approach | Astrobiology

Biological activity has shaped environments across Earth with varying degrees of impact throughout geological time, which complicates efforts to distinguish signs of life in preserved structures. This...

liebertpub.com

This is why I love environmental microbiology. Two friends I have met in two separate labs (Sylvia in @environmicrobio.bsky.social lab and Jeemin in the Santoro lab at UCSB) sent me a photo of them working together on a research vessel in the Atlantic. Fun times!

Ruger keeps steeling my phone an taking selfies 🤳

Check out the new community roadmap for equitable sequence data reuse. With 160+ scientists, a proposed “Data Reuse Information” tags to modernize outdated guidelines and foster collaboration. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A roadmap for equitable reuse of public microbiome data - Nature Microbiology

In this Consensus Statement, a consortium of microbiome scientists discuss current sequencing data sharing policies and propose the use of a Data Reuse Information (DRI) tag to promote equitable and collaborative data sharing.

nature.com

If you want to learn more about the unique biology of MMB from the same tidal pond, see my lab’s @quantaofgeorge.bsky.social opus magnum: journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Multicellular magnetotactic bacteria are genetically heterogeneous consortia with metabolically differentiated cells

Multicellular magnetotactic bacteria (MMB) are unique in having no unicellular stage in their life cycle. This study characterizes the genomics and physiology of MMB consortia at single cell resolutio...

journals.plos.org