How Microbes Defend and Define Us

Check out this article in the New York Times about the human microbiome. It has a lot of really interesting information, some of which I'm sorry I missed including in the podcast. It's written by Carl Zimmer, science writer and host of the very good Meet the Scientist podcast, so you know it's quality material.

BacterioFiles Episode 16

In this show, I report on four exciting stories: birthing method affecting babies' bacteria, soil microbes affecting forest ecology, endophytes producing useful compounds, and manipulating gut bacteria for health.

Download Episode (12.3 MB, 13.5 minutes)

Download Sections:
Intro
Story 1
Story 2
Story 3
Story 4
Ending Comments

Show notes:
Story 1: News item 1/News item 2/Journal paper
Story 2: News item/Journal Paper
Story 3: Journal Paper
Story 4: News article/Journal Paper

Other interesting stories:
**How the oil spill threatens researchers' plans

**About enzymes for making biofuels

**Article about yeast

**On viral cancer therapy

**Bacterial gene restores sight to blind

**Will oil-eating bacteria cause problems?

**Virus used to control beetle pest

**Computers communicating like bacteria

**Bacteria that can do useful things for the environment

**Hot Alaskan oilfields have oil-degrading microbes

**Bacterial diversity in a basic salty lake

**Using photosynthesizers to make useful chemicals

**Hydrogen gas production by a cyanobacterium

**Analysis of nose and throat bacteria/another

**How algae in the ocean get nitrogen

**Using viruses to study the brain

**Add nutrients to ocean to increase carbon storage

**Electricity-producing bacteria improved with light

Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening!

Subscribe at iTunes, check out the show at Twitter, MicrobeWorld, or SciencePodcasters.org

This show features music from Mevio's podsafe Music Alley.

BacterioFiles Episode 15

In this show, I report on three exciting stories: how viral invasions might've shaped human evolution, how bacteria are good for the immune system, and using viruses for medicine. Plus, biofuels special extravaganza!

Download Episode (10.4 MB, 11.5 minutes)

Download Sections:
Intro
Story 1
Story 2
Story 3
Special

Ending Comments

Show notes:
Story 1: News item/Journal paper
Story 2: News item/Journal Paper
Story 3: News item/Journal Paper
Biofuels Special: 1 2 3 4 5

Other interesting stories:
**Underground microbiology

**New study about how bacteria swim

**Interesting microbial life lives under the seafloor

**Businesses are interested in Venter's synthetic life

**Bacteria converting oil to natural gas

**Developing bacteria to kill mosquitoes

**Using bacteria to clean up oil spill

**Shallow ocean worm symbionts related to deep sea vent microbes

**Fungi help rice plants grow big

**New strain discovered that could help clean environment

**Research on making bioplastic/more

**Discovery about how bacteria evolve stress resistance

**Soil bacterial diversity in the Arctic not much different from elsewhere

**Oral bacteria could protect against respiratory infections

Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening!

Subscribe at iTunes, check out the show at Twitter, MicrobeWorld, or SciencePodcasters.org

This show features music from Mevio's podsafe Music Alley.

BacterioFiles Episode 14

In this show, I report on four exciting stories: microbial electrosynthesis, desert dust that affects ocean microbes, bacteria dividing unequally, and bacteria that can make you smarter.

(Image credit: Matthias Christen)


Download Episode (13.2 MB, 14.5 minutes)

Download Sections:
Intro
Story 1
Story 2
Story 3
Story 4
Ending Comments

Show notes:
Story 1: News item/Journal paper
Story 2: News item/Journal Paper
Story 3: News item/Journal Paper
Story 4: News article 1/News article 2

Other interesting stories:
**More about microbes and the BP oil spill

**An article about microbes and climate

**Life in a subzero Arctic spring

**A modified virus that could treat childhood brain tumors

**Mutated oral bacteria could give clue to Alzheimer's

**In slime molds, the first to starve wins

**Using microbes to generate hydrogen

**Probiotic organism in breastmilk good for infant digestion

**Genome of brown algae gives clues to evolution of multicellularity and photosynthesis

**Study of bacteria that live inside fungi that live inside plants

**How microbes affect precipitation/another site

**The relationship between bacteria and obesity/another site

Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening!

Subscribe at iTunes, check out the show at Twitter, MicrobeWorld, or SciencePodcasters.org

This show features music from Mevio's podsafe Music Alley.

BacterioFiles Episode 13

In this show, I report on four exciting stories: bacteria made to clean up pesticides, new findings from microbial fossils, fighting bacteria with bacteria, and cells with synthetic genomes.

(Image credit: Tom Deerinck and Mark Ellisman of the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research at the University of California at San Diego)


Download Episode (13 MB, 14 minutes)

Download Sections:
Intro
Story 1
Story 2
Story 3
Story 4
Ending Comments

Show notes:
Story 1: News item 1/News item 2/Journal paper
Story 2: News item/Journal Paper
Story 3: News item/Journal Paper
Story 4: News articles 1 2 3 4 5 6 7/Journal Paper/Video

Other interesting stories:
**New method for studying metabolism of microbial communities
**Making bricks out of bacteria and sand
**Op-ed about the potential for life on Earth unrelated to the life we know
**Study about biocathodes for microbial fuel cells
**Yeast used for wine could be good for bioethanol too
**Article about bacteria and clean fuel production
**How adding good bacteria to soil could help wheat grow
**Soil microbes may "breathe" organic matter as well as minerals
**Cheese seems like a good carrier for probiotics for elderly
**Quick-evolving bacteria may be good for digestive health
**Human microbiome project stories: 1 2 3
**Bacteria share genes more with family
**Genes of bacteria that are good for plant growth
**Gut bacteria of tsetse fly could help prevent sleeping sickness

Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening!

Subscribe at iTunes, check out the show at Twitter, MicrobeWorld, or SciencePodcasters.org

This show features music from Mevio's podsafe Music Alley.

BacterioFiles Episode 12

In this show, I report on four exciting stories: interesting organisms found living in acid, purple bacteria's efficiency in capturing light, a cocaine overdose treatment from bacteria, and comparing E. coli to Linux.

(Image credit: Yale, PNAS)


Download Episode (13.3 MB, 14.6 minutes)

Download Sections:
Intro
Current Event
Story 1
Story 2
Story 3
Story 4
Ending Comments

Show notes:
Current Event: News item 1/News item 2/News item 3
Story 1: News item/Journal paper
Story 2: News item/Journal Paper
Story 3: News item/Journal Paper
Story 4: News item 1/News item 2/Journal Paper

Other interesting stories:
**Fear of Earthly microbes contaminating Mars
**Where oil comes from
**Fossils on Earth give hints about finding Martian life
**How probiotics are used more than they are known to work
**Fighting brain cancer with viruses
**A company that makes "solar panels" filled with microbes
**How soil microbes shouldn't be as bad for global warming as was thought
**How gut microbes affect bowel health
**A plant virus that now infects vertebrate animals
**Probiotics help premature infants
**How some marine bacteria can use sunlight too
**How gut microbes can affect celiac disease

Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening!

Subscribe at iTunes, check out the show at Twitter, MicrobeWorld, or SciencePodcasters.org

This show features music from Mevio's podsafe Music Alley.

BacterioFiles Episode 11

In this show, I report on four exciting stories: a probiotic bacteria that can fight cancer, bacteria in dust that affect asthma, microbes living in a lake of asphalt, and a census of marine microorganisms.



(Image credit: Dirk Schulze-Makuch)


Download Episode (13.4 MB, 14.75 minutes)

Download Sections:
Intro
Story 1
Story 2
Story 3
Story 4
Ending Comments

Show notes:
Story 1: News item/Journal paper
Story 2: News item/Journal Paper
Story 3: News item 1/News item 2/Submitted Paper
Story 4: News item 1/News item 2/Slideshow

Other interesting stories:
**Plant fungal disease that uses different tactics depending on which part of the plant it’s infecting
**Using microbes to clean up groundwater pollution
**The Navy investigating ways to use microbes to power small devices
**A species of bacterium that produces lots of hydrogen gas
**Using a microbe to protect grapes from grey mold
**Study about how probiotics may not help Salmonella food poisoning
**Paper about recently-discovered salt-loving archaea found in the human intestine
**Eukaryotic plankton in the ocean actually incorporate a lot of carbon dioxide into their cells
**Article describing the job of planetary protection officer for NASA

Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening!

Subscribe at iTunes

This show features music from Mevio's podsafe Music Alley.