Links of note/Science

A Bacterium That Acts Like a Toothbrush – ScienceNOW

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“Researchers have identified a new ally in the war against tooth decay: an enzyme produced by a mouth bacterium that prevents plaque formation. The finding could eventually lead to the development of toothpaste that harnesses the body’s own plaque-fighting tools.”

These results contradict a bit some earlier studies that this enzyme, FruA, enhances cavities. But these guys have an idea why – high levels of sugar weaken the effect of the enzyme.

As a practical microbiologist, I wonder why we just don’t use S salivarius (the bug making the enzyme) in toothpaste.

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‘Virus-eater’ discovered in Antarctic lake : Nature News

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“A genomic survey of the microbial life in an Antarctic lake has revealed a new virophage — a virus that attacks viruses. The discovery suggests that these life forms are more common, and have a larger role in the environment, than was once thought.”

As usual, tickled pink when Nature finally reveals something that has been in our faces for so long. Always gets me wondering what else we’re missing.

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Watch Out Below: Wasps Battle Ants by Dropping Them – ScienceNOW

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“The observation that the wasp relocates ants farther when the swarm is bigger is a “wonderful example of behavioral plasticity,” he adds. Grangier plans to investigate in the future whether wasps in their native habitat, North America, exhibit the same behavior or whether it is something new that the invasives in New Zealand have taught themselves out of necessity.”

Cool.

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Innovation/Links of note/Science/Strategy/The Narrative

Less Bad vs. Good : Oscillator

Posted on by charlie

“Should young, bright, and idealistic biotechnology students spend their summer coming up with technologies for oil companies to exploit so that they can more cleanly and efficiently pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, or should they be trying to come up with new fuels, new processes, new systems, new industries that can some day actually be good? iGEM is an inspirational experience, where you can meet hundreds of amazing students doing hundreds of amazing and creative things. Let’s not stifle their creativity and potential for change by having them try to make a fundamentally flawed and dangerous system less bad.” [by @thisischristina]

Well stated. Building bugs to keep extracting oil or cleaning up something that shouldn’t be dirtied is a complication upon a complication. And having to do so to be able to learn synthbio and to get funding gets awkward. Awkward if you have ethics, that is.

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Researchers Challenge E. O. Wilson Over Evolutionary Theory – ScienceInsider

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“Nowak is convinced that his critics haven’t really done inclusive fitness calculations or they would understand the theory’s limitations. … To him, the letters “are the reactions of people who are clinging to an obsolete theory.”

“Raghavendra Gadagkar, an evolutionary biologist at the Centre for Ecological Sciences of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, supports Nowak. “Much of what is in the paper is correct,” he says. His own response to Nature “was not published on the grounds that I did not sufficiently disagree with the authors,” he says. Instead, he has published a commentary in Current Science, saying, “for the healthy growth of science it is useful to periodically rock the boat and when a body of knowledge grows into a large ship we need giants like Wilson to rock it.””

Gotta love a good fight! This is what science is best at – open re-evaluation of what we hold to be true. discussion.

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Marine microbes digest plastic : Nature News

Posted on by charlie

“Amaral-Zettler and Mincer also found genetic and microscope evidence of eukaryotes on the plastic. What she calls the “plastisphere” might contain complex living communities. “It may be a little world that we’ve created, for better or worse.”

“The Wood’s Hole scientists aim to sample more ocean plastic and to isolate, culture and identify the microbes found on it. Then they can determine if and how they’re digesting the plastic and discover what the by-products are.”

I can’t say how much this excites me. My dive into practical microbiology started with exploration of plastic-digesting bacteria and then grew from there.

There is no end to the amazing things bacteria do. And we shouldn’t be surprised at the ability of bacteria to find a useful carbon source or electron acceptor or what. Bacteria have the numbers in their favor – large populations and quick generation times mean that bacteria can sample and evolve into “adjacent possibles”.

Fascinating creatures!

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Going Viral: Exploring the Role Of Viruses in Our Bodies

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“Many of the viruses prey on the bacteria in our bodies, altering their numbers and diversity and shuffling genes—including genes for antibiotic resistance—from one bacterium to another. At the International Human Microbiome Congress earlier this month, one provocative, albeit preliminary, finding emerged: Infants with unexplained fevers harbor many more viruses than healthy infants.”

Really nice news focus on the balance between the human virome and microbiome and what it means for us humans stuck in the middle. [Alas, the article is behind a subscription – Open Access Fail].

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Three start-ups took off despite recession – The Boston Globe

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“The day Dann Paquette brewed his first barrel of beer in fall 2008, the US Senate passed the $700 billion bank bailout bill. If timing is everything, he couldn’t have chosen a worse date to launch his Somerville company, Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project.”

Inspirational stories about different types of start-ups that began as the market tanked in winter of 2008.

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