Posts tagged as:

bacteria

Bacterially Tye-Dyed Caves

March 5, 2010

Life on Earth is everywhere, from pores in rocks miles beneath the surface to tiny cloud particles floating high above. Here’s another example of life turning up in a spot we’d not previously suspected: cave mineral deposits. Turns out the colorful encrustations are sometimes raw bacterial sewage. Pretty sewage, though!
Cave bacteria are often actinomycetes, which [...]

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Extreme (Plankton) Closeup!

February 22, 2010

Most people have only seen plankton in crappy, fuzzy photos in college textbooks, if they’ve seen it at all. If you have heard of it, it’s probably in the context of the stuff baleen whales eat, and that’s about it. I personally was lucky enough to see an entire jar of the delicacy when I [...]

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The Seafaring Killer Bacterium

February 14, 2010

Vibrio cholerae is a bacterium of surprising adaptability, tenacity, and Olympic-class swimming ability. Cholera bacteria can swim in both freshwater and saltwater (a feat most fish cannot manage), and somehow also manage to do the backstroke through stomach acid without kicking the bucket. The historic killer has just popped up again in Papua New Guinea [...]

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Gorgeous Corkscrews from Hell

January 22, 2010

So I haven’t managed to get around to writing the post I had bee. . . look! Shiny! Spirochetes!
This one goes out to those of you who think all bacteria are either boring rods or balls. (BTW, is it just me, or does this video have a strange first-moon-landing-recording-esque quality?)

Eat your heart out, physicists, engineers [...]

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Marine Mucilage: Why They Make Marine Kleenex

October 13, 2009

And not to be confused with Marine Muesli. I know you’re disappointed.
Apparently, in addition to all things jelly, I’m fascinated by all things blobby. You’ll note the restraint I used in not posting anything about that blob they found floating off the coast of Alaska last summer. It seemed obvious right from the start that [...]

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