MicrobeWorld

John writes:

Dear TWIVvers,

In TWIV 173, you talked about a study on antibody levels to bird flu (H5N1) in various populations, and related this to infections that don't cause serious enough illness to send someone to the hospital, or perhaps to get them teste... Read More

On the Small Things Considered blog, Michael Schmidt, Professor and Vice Chairman of Microbiology and Immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina, reviews a recent paper entitled "Precise Manipulation of Chromosomes in Vivo Enables Genome-Wide Codon Replacement" by Church and colleagu... Read More

El podcast del microbio Nº 243 summarize the Science article by Abi-Rached et al. about the interbreeding between neandhertal an... Read More

A discussion of the "Marshall Protocol" which is a claimed treatment for all sorts of ailments. The article discusses how the MP backers suggests not only that microbes cause a wide diversity of ailments, but that a specific protocol can cure these ailments. The article discusses the lack of e... Read More

Hosts: Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Dickson Despommier<... Read More

Jamie Henzy, a postdoctoral researcher at Boston College, has authored a post on Small Things Considered that explores the shady world of the deltaretrovirus genus.

"Among retroviruses, the deltaretrovirus genus is something of a shady bunch, its members lurking in the shadows, causing troubl... Read More

El podcast del Microbio Nº200 is dedicated to the memory of Baruch Blumberg (1925-2011). El podcast del Microbio Nº200 está... Read More

The figure for the number of prokaryotic cells on the planet, roughly 5x1030, is considerably greater than that of the estimated number of stars in the firmaments (3x1023). These two numbers have one thing in common: they both grew hugely and rather suddenly in recent human history.

Click "s... Read More

One hundred million years ago the earth’s climate was much warmer than today and vast inland seas stretched across entire continents. The land was dominated by charismatic megafauna that would one day serve as inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel The Lost World. This period is commonly... Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove Read More

I just returned from a 17-day, 3,000 km road trip with my family in Europe. When I travel I’m always on the lookout for virus-related information and I found some at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany. This museum showcases science and technology – it has over 100,000 objects illustrating t... Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Vanessa Cowton, Mary Holton, Mark Robinson, Swetha Vijayakrishnan, and Gavin Wilkie

Vincent returns to t... Read More

Judi writes:

Hello People of TWIV!

Thanks for all the information you give and how you make me think. I really liked your discussions on TWIV 136 - exit XMRV, not as much for the science ( which was cool) but for the discussio... Read More

Dylan writes:

Dear Professors Racaniello and Depommier,

I hope this email finds you both in good health. I am a second year medical student from Ireland studying at the University of Cambridge, UK and I have been following the TWiP series with considerable interest... Read More

Enterococci had been generally regarded as benign commensals, a part of our healthy intestinal microbiota. They were even invited in, being used as probiotics. But then, in the late 1970s, the first multiple drug-resistant strains appeared, and vancomycin-resistant strains followed in 1981. In r... Read More

This episode: Sending secret messages with glowing bacteria!

Downloa... Read More

Joe writes:

Twivers

I did the homework Professor Vince assigned and went to see the movie Contagion. I really liked the movie and was very pleased with the way the science was portrayed.

I am an Environmental Health and Safety Manager ... Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier,  Read More

Cara writes:

Hello Vincent and Team TWIV,

I love Virology, and it is with much chagrin that I admit I have only recently started listening to TWIV. However I have tried to mend the error of my ways by: 1) proselytizing the benefits (keeping up-to-date with and... Read More

Good basic info on Swine Flu in humans and pigs. Read More