Posts tagged as:

viruses

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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Does This Membrane Clash With My RNA?

September 17, 2009

Until 1933, it was impossible to see a virus. Oh, we knew they were out there. But no one had the faintest clue what they looked like. 1933 marked the year transmission electron microscopy finally achieved resolutions finer than light microscopes were capable of and made it possible to finally glimpse the agents that had [...]

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More Bad News for Bats: Marburg Virus Edition

August 8, 2009

As if the bats of the world didn’t already have enough to contend with, what with their bad (albeit sometimes deserved) rap for rabies and drinking human blood, numerical decline thanks to habitat loss, and the White Nose Syndrome that is anihilating the bats of eastern North America (and maybe eventually all of North America), [...]

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Virus as Muse, Cruft as Medium

July 16, 2009

This is a bacteriophage.

Kind of eerie and ghostly, isn’t it?
It’s a virus that infects bacteria, looks like the lunar lander, and was among the first viruses ever discovered. These guys may also be the most ubiquitous biological entities on the planet; you may be swallowing untold millions in every accidental mouthful of fresh or seawater. [...]

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