I committed a double homicide this week. Two of the little suckers in one trap, the promise of some yummy peanut butter just millimeters away. We tried to give them every opportunity to avail themselves of the no-kill traps, but after one of their brethren found himself so incarcerated (he was later released at the... Continue Reading →
Unscientific Americans
Which statement most closely describes how you feel: 1. I care about all people (even if they're from another country), the environment, and the future of our planet. 2. I care about people (especially people from my country and people like me), the environment (especially my environment), and my kids. 3. I care about middle class Americans... Continue Reading →
Organizing Life
Linnaeus probably couldn't have guessed that we would one day be able to classify organisms by sequencing and comparing large chunks of their genomes (since he didn't know what a genome was). That's what phylogenomics does, and it's leading to rapid advances in our understanding of how life evolved. In the late '90s, my dad... Continue Reading →
Antibiotic Profligacy
According to this Science blurb, American children are prescribed antibiotics 57% of the time for respiratory infections, which are only 27% bacterial, resulting in 11 million unwarranted antibiotic prescriptions each year. This is increasing antibiotic resistance and, the article fails to mention, wreaking unnecessary havoc with our good microbes.
Flu Bugs
Not to be too much of a grotesque, but even flu vaccines are affected by our gut microbiota. Science reports that certain bacteria in the gut increase the efficacy of the flu vaccine. Keep those guts healthy!
Mind Control
Score one for conspiracy theorists. Our minds are being controlled by outside forces - but Obama and DARPA aren't to blame.* In keeping with the theme that little critters have a lot more to do with our world than we thought, at least two of these (a protozoan and a virus) are widespread in humans and... Continue Reading →
Poppa's Cottage 