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In the Company of Microbes
Ten Years of Small Things Considered
Moselio Schaechter (Author), Judith Schaechter (Illustrated by)
9781555819590, Wiley
Paperback / softback, published 1 May 2016
320 pages
22.6 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.522 kg
With more than 1,000 posts and 2 million views, the online Small Things Considered blog has been attracting the attention of microbiologists for the past decade. Throughout the years, Elio Schaechter and his team of dedicated bloggers have shared exciting, unexpected, and unusual stories from the microbial world. Now they have compiled the best of their work into a single volume. In the Company of Microbes: Ten Years of Small Things Considered is an extraordinary compilation of carefully selected, wise, amusing, and even profound statements about the ubiquity and relevance of the microbial world. In the pages of In the Company of Microbes Schaechter, past ASM Presidents, and distinguished microbiologists from around the globe reflect on personal, sometimes historic interactions with microbes and unexpected discoveries, with each individual essay conveying the excitement and sense of surprise that microbiology holds for them. An inherently fascinating read from beginning to end, In the Company of Microbes is informative, thought-provoking, and occasionally inspiring, making it unreservedly recommended for the personal reading lists of academic and non-specialist general readers with an interest in microbiology. Simply stated, every community, college, or university library should have a copy of In the Company of Microbes as a integral part of their Microbiological Studies collection.
—James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
A look at the amazing, groovy world of microbes With more than 1,000 posts and 2 million views, the esteemed blog Small Things Considered has been sparking the imagination of microbiologists for an entire decade. Throughout the years, Elio Schaechter and his team of dedicated bloggers have shared exciting, unexpected, and unusual stories from the microbial world. In the Company of Microbes is a carefully selected treasure chest of wise, amusing, and even profound statements about the ubiquity and relevance of the microbial world. Schaechter, past ASM Presidents, and distinguished microbiologists from around the globe reflect on personal, sometimes historic interactions with microbes and unexpected discoveries, each essay conveying the excitement and sense of surprise that microbiology holds for them. This is the reason that Small Things Considered is a scientific and social media phenomenon that has impacted scientists at every stage of their careers and shared the magical of microbes with world. Join Schaechter in discovering a never-ending pageant of astounding variations on the theme of microbial life. Enjoy!
Contributors x Introduction xi Preface xiii Acknowledgments xv What Do We Mean by a Talmudic Question? xvi Part 1: The View from Here 1 Of Ancient Curses, Microbes, and the ASM 3 2 On the Evolution of the Genetic Code 6 3 Microbes Touch Everything 8 4 Getting a Handle on Cell Organization 11 5 The Age of Imaging 16 6 Bacillus subtilis: Wild and Tame 19 7 The Tyranny of Phylogeny: An Exhortation 22 8 Virus in the Room 24 9 Feynman Said “Just Look at the Thing!” 27 10 Self-Assembly For Me 34 11 On the Definition of Prokaryotes 37 12 The Microbial Nature of Humans 42 13 Good Writing Beats Bad Writing, Most Any Day 47 14 Finally, Farewell to “Stamp Collecting” 52 Part 2: Accounts of the Past 15 Esther Lederberg: Pioneer of Bacterial Genetics 59 16 How Proteomics Got Started 66 17 Did van Leeuwenhoek Observe Yeast Cells in 1680? 72 18 The Louse and the Vaccine 76 19 The Ten-Minute Leeuwenhoek Microscope 80 20 Microbiology in the Andes: Ancient and Unexpected 84 21 Dr. Rous’s Prize-Winning Chicken 87 22 The Two Quantitative Steps in the Biology Growth Curve 90 23 A Tale of Centenarians 93 24 A Failed Experiment 99 25 “Microbe Hunters” by Paul DeKruif: A Major Force in Microbiological History 104 26 Fecal Transplants in the “Good Old Days” 106 27 Requiem for a Machine 110 28 Mad Dogs and Microbiologists 113 29 Joshua Lederberg and the “Cellularity” of Bacteria 118 Part 3: Small Wonders 30 Where Art Thou, O Nucleoid? 123 31 Teaching E. coli to Endocytose 126 32 The Awesomest Thing in Biology 130 33 Let’s Not Forget Acetabularia 134 34 The Fastest Flights in Nature 139 35 Fungal Alchemy: Using Radiation as a Source of Energy 141 36 Arms and the Fungus 143 37 Bacterial Hopanoids: The Lipids That Last Forever 146 38 A Bacterium Learns Long Division 150 39 Commuting to Work 153 Part 4: On Being a Microbiologist 40 Directed Science, Curiosity-Driven Science, and Striking the Balanc 159 41 The Gender Bias of Science Faculty 163 42 The Excitement of Clinical Microbiology 166 43 The Bacterial Chromosome: A Physical Biologist’s Apology. A Perspective 171 44 Whose Planet is It Anyway? 177 45 If Microbes Could Tweet 181 46 State Microbes 183 47 Recalling the Good in the Good Old Days 187 48 The Attendee’s Guide to Scientific Meetings 189 Part 5: Personal Notes 49 The Encyclopedia and I 195 50 The Guild 198 51 The Magasanik Paradox 200 Part 6: The Ways of Microbes 52 The Parvome 205 53 The World is Pleiotropic 208 54 Constructing a Synthetic Mycoplasma 211 55 By Chance and Necessity:The Role of the Cytoskeleton in the Genesis of Eukaryotes 214 56 The Gram Stain: Its Persistence and Its Quirks 221 57 On the Continuity of Biological Membranes 226 58 Energetics of the Eukaryotic Edge 223 59 The Road to Microbial Endocrinology 238 60 Begetting the Eukarya: An Unexpected Light 244 61 The Higgs Boson and Biology 253 62 The Power of Fungal Genetics: Cassava for Food Security and Sustainability in Colombia 257 63 Why is It So Hard to Make an HIV Vaccine? 259 64 Measuring Up 263 Part 7: Teaching Things 65 On Teaching 267 66 Hello Again, Metabolism! 271 67 Why Medical Microbiology is Not Like Stamp Collecting 273 68 Where Mathematicians and Biologists Meet 278 69 Short Courses for Long-Term Learning 282 70 Preaching to a Prokaryotic Choir 284 71 “The Great Plate Count Anomaly” That is No More 288 Talmudic Question #73 291 List of Contributors to Small Things Considered 292
Bonnie L. Bassler
Charles Yanofsky
Tim Donohue
Franklin M. Harold
Elio
Richard Losick
Elio
Welkin Johnson
Jan Spitzer
Elio
Nanne Nanninga
Maureen O’Malley
Elio
Christoph Weigel
Mercé Piqueras
Fred Neidhardt
Nanne Nanninga
Elio
Patrick Keeling
Elio
Welkin Johnson
Elio
Claudio Schazzocchio
Elio
Elio
Stanley Falkow
Elio
William C. Summers
Elio
Conrad Woldringh
Elio
Elio
Elio
Elio
Elio
Elio
Elio
Nanne Nanninga
Elio
Jeff F. Miller
Vincent Racaniello
Elio
Suckjoon Jun
Elio
Daniel P. Haeusser
Elio
Elio
Julian Davies
Elio
Elio
Elio
Julian Davies
Elio
Shmuel Razin
Daniel P. Haeusser
Elio
Franklin M. Harold
Franklin M. Harold
Mark Lyte
Franklin M. Harold
Elio
Chris Condaya, Peter Geoghan
John Coffin
Jamie Henzy
Stanley Falkow
Amy Cheng Vollmer
Elio
Joe Mahaffy
Phoebe Lostroh
Mark Martin
Gemma Reguera
Subject Areas: Clinical & internal medicine [MJ]
