So, yesterday, we discussed Kitty and Cliff Hach- those entrepreneurs who made water testing easy, reasonably priced, and reproducible.
Continue reading Water Beyond Compare
So yesterday, we discussed (disgust?) the current state of affairs of stem cell research in the USA. Such as it may be.
Continue reading This little piggy goes to market
I’ve written how we often discovered antibiotics. Simple. By sampling mud, ponds, habitats where microbes thrive and try to find the one strain that inhibits the growth of other microbes. Not a very efficient process- and one that provides less benefit now that we’ve discovered a slew of microbes. We just can’t seem to find a new one that works, to bolster our arsenal against disease.
A computational biologist, Arnau Vich Vila, presented his PhD research at the United European Gastroenterology conference in Barcelona (October 2019). His paper, coauthored with his PhD advisor, Rinse K Weersma at the University Medical Center at Groningen, along with co-authors from Groningen (Netherlands), as well as from the Maastricht University Medical Center (also from the Netherlands) , discussed the effects of various drug categories on the patency of our gut microbiome.
Continue reading Hits you right in the gut
267 years ago, Ben Franklin flew his kite to demonstrate that lightning was electricity. But, it really wasn’t of much use to us until some 130 years later. On the 4th of September 1882, the Edison Illuminating Company began operating the first power plant (Pearl Street) with a network of copper wires. (The problem is that our electric grid has not really progressed much beyond that mess of copper wires.)
Every once in a while, I realize that the path I chose for my life has been pretty fortuitous. Sure, I had two failed marriages (one clearly my fault; the other clearly not)- but I was awarded three fantabulous children as a result, so- on balance- I still consider them fortuitous.
Continue reading Bug invasions
He was about the only scientist I knew that didn’t covet the Nobel Prize. Sure, he won every (ok, almost every) other honor (deservedly so) available- but still.
Continue reading Stanley Falkow, A”H
Now, here’s a great combination of technology. Biochemical engineering and additive manufacturing. What’s that you say? Too much technical jargon?
OK. Today is the day for the WayBack Machine. And, that will be true for a whole bunch of reasons.
Continue reading I need to suck your blood….
For a while, I hated shopping at the kosher grocery store in Kemp Mill. Because you had to pay for each bag that you needed to take your groceries home.
Continue reading Mind your own beeswax!
