This episode: Trends of declining lichen populations and biocrust cover overall match trends of increasing temperatures in Colorado dryland! Download Episode (6.4 MB, 9.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Cherry chlorotic rusty spot associated partitivirus Takeaways: Global climate change is affecting almost every natural system on the p…

This episode: A virus partners with a parasitoid wasp to help exploit fruit fly victims! Download Episode (7.7 MB, 11.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Actinomadura livida Takeaways Parasitoid wasps have an interesting lifestyle: they inject their eggs into the larvae of other insects, and their young hatch and grow up by consuming the…

This episode: Many organisms produce the smell of earth, geosmin, and many others can sense it–but why? Download Episode (6.0 MB, 8.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Acidianus spindle-shaped virus 1 News item Takeaways The smell of soil or earth is one of the most recognizable smells, and comes largely from a chemical called geosmin, p…

This episode: Slime mold amoebas Fonticula alba have interesting and unique foraging and reproductive behaviors! Download Episode (7.3 MB, 10.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Cajanus cajan Panzee virus News item Takeaways How did life develop from single-celled organisms acting independently into the complex, multicellular organisms w…

This episode: A probiotic strain of E. coli can target and destroy pathogens that survive a treatment of antibiotics! Download Episode (8.2 MB, 12 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces griseoruber Takeaways Antibiotic resistance is becoming more and more of a problem as bacterial pathogens develop resistance to more and more dru…

This episode: Incorporating light-absorbing molecules into bacterial membranes can allow bacteria to use solar energy to transform nitrogen gas into fertilizer! Download Episode (6.5 MB, 9.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Wheat dwarf virus Takeaways Turning nitrogen gas into biologically useful compounds, such as protein or ammonia fo…

This episode: A marine protist predator traps prey microbes in an attractive bubble of mucus, eats what it wants, and lets the rest sink, possibly sequestering significant amounts of carbon! Download Episode (7.8 MB, 11.4 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Bat associated cyclovirus 1 News item Takeaways The oceans have a lot of unique, un…

This episode: Certain phages in the gut are linked with increases in performance on some cognitive tests! Download Episode (7.5 MB, 10.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces bikiniensis News item Takeaways Our gut microbiota includes a large number of viruses, mostly bacteriophages. These fall into two groups, the lytic kind th…

This episode: Adding tags to proteins to increase their degradation can help engineered bacteria grow and survive better under various conditions! Download Episode (7.3 MB, 10.4 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Lactococcus virus sk1 News item Takeaways Engineering bacteria with new genetic pathways allows us to use them in many new and …

This episode: Single-celled bacteria can act independently to create patterns and structure in their biofilm communities! Download Episode (9.6 MB, 14.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Dictyostelium discoideum Skipper virus News item Takeaways Large multicellular organisms like us have interesting mechanisms for using one set of geneti…

This episode: Gene transfers between viruses and eukaryotes have happened many times throughout evolutionary history! Download Episode (7.5 MB, 10.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Mycoplasma subdolum News item Takeaways As we’ve all seen recently, viruses can cause a lot of trouble. Their biology requires them to be parasites inside t…

This episode: Human-based food used as bait by hunters can reduce bears' gut microbe diversity! Download Episode (5.9 MB, 8.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Actinomadura verrucosospora News item Takeaways Gut microbes are important for the health of most animals. In humans, many things can affect our gut microbe community, including d…

This episode: Simple microscopic animals can survive extreme radiation by ejecting damaged cells that might otherwise become cancer! Download Episode (7.3 MB, 9.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Helleborus net necrosis virus News item Takeaways Any multicellular organism with different types of cells needs some sort of cell regulation,…

This episode: How family members share gut microbes across multiple generations! Download Episode (7.3 MB, 10.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Dyozetapapillomavirus 1 Takeaways Our gut’s microbial communities can greatly influence our health, for good or bad. The makeup of these communities can be influenced by many factors, including…

This episode: Bacteriophages can hitch a ride on bacteria they don't infect to travel through soil on fungal filaments, potentially helping their carriers by infecting and killing their competitors! Download Episode (7.1 MB, 10.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Epinotia aporema granulovirus News item Takeaways For tiny bacteria, partia…

This episode: Beetles inoculate bamboo with a fungus that consumes the bamboo sugars to feed the beetle larvae! Download Episode (7.7 MB, 11.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Saccharomyces cerevisiae virus L-BC (La) News item Video: Lizard beetle laying its egg Takeaways The structural polymers that make up plants, such as cellulose, c…

This episode: New techniques allow specific modifications in certain members of a complex community of microbes, without isolating them in pure culture first! Download Episode (11.5 MB, 16.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Tomato golden mosaic virus News item Takeaways The technology for understanding and manipulating microbial genetic…

This episode: Predatory bacteria could protect lobster farms from disease-causing bacteria! Download Episode (4.8 MB, 7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Gordonia rubripertincta Takeaways Antibiotics have done wonders for controlling bacterial pathogens. Many people have lived that would otherwise have died, and some industries have prod…

This episode: A bacteriophage that overcomes the bacterial CRISPR/Cas immune system by interrupting the CRISPR DNA with its own genome! Download Episode (6.8 MB, 10 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Wenzhou mammarenavirus Takeaways Bacteria have many ways to resist being exploited by bacteriophage viruses, including the adaptable CRISPR/…

This episode: Bacteria can use blobs of disordered proteins to quickly adapt to new conditions! Thanks to Dr. Saumya Saurabh for his contribution! Download Episode (10.9 MB, 15.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Drosophila melanogaster Micropia virus Takeaways Bacteria can adapt to environmental fluctuations via mechanisms operating at …

This episode: A phage both kills bacterial pathogens and selects for reduced virulence! Download Episode (6.3 MB, 9.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Helminthosporium victoriae 145S virus News item Takeaways Using bacteria-killing viruses to treat bacterial infections, or phage therapy, can be a good alternative to antibiotics in some …

This episode: Tiny bacteria that live on larger bacteria reduce the inflammation and gum disease the bigger microbes cause in the mouths of mice! Download Episode (6.3 MB, 9.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Actinomadura viridilutea Takeaways Even bacteria can be hosts to smaller symbionts living on them. Some kinds of these extremely …

This episode: A virus lurking in a bacterial genome protects its host population from infection with other phages, by killing off infected cells! Download Episode (7.6 MB, 11.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Olive latent ringspot virus Takeaways Many bacteriophages just go in and gobble up all their host's resources to make a bunch of…

This episode: Harmless gut microbes resist cholera with good defense or better offense! Download Episode (5.8 MB, 8.4 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces corchorusii News item Takeaways The community of microbes in our guts is highly diverse, yet generally they all coexist relatively peacefully. Some pathogens can invade this …

This episode: Prions in yeast can allow better adaptation to changing conditions! Download Episode (9.5 MB, 13.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Hepatovirus F News item Takeaways Prions can be deadly. They're misshapen proteins that cause a cascade of misfolding of similar proteins if they get into the nervous system, resulting in neur…

This episode: Bacteria are able to extract metals from rocks for industrial use, even in microgravity! Download Episode (6.2 MB, 9.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Decapod ambidensovirus 1 News item Takeaways As humanity makes progress toward becoming an interplanetary species, consideration is needed on how travelers can survive and …

This episode: Bacteria living inside soil fungus produce toxins that can protect their host from tiny predators! Download Episode (7.7 MB, 11.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Mycobacterium virus DLane Takeaways Soils have many different organisms cooperating and competing for resources. Some little worms called nematodes prey on fungi…

This episode: Certain nectar-dwelling bacteria can induce pollen to germinate to access their tasty proteins! Download Episode (6.0 MB, 8.8 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Clostridium oceanicum News item Takeaways Nectar in flowers seems like it would be a great place for microbes to live, since it has so much sugar, but it's actually …

This episode: Bacteria produce a compound that causes a phage lurking in the genome of a competing species to wake up and start killing that competitor! Download Episode (8.2 MB, 12.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Zaire ebolavirus News item Takeaways Some bacteriophages infect and immediately destroy their hosts in a burst of new vir…

This episode: A eukaryote has symbionts living in it: green algae and also purple bacteria, a combo never seen before! Download Episode (6.1 MB, 8.8 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Staphylococcus virus phiETA News item Takeaways Having bacteria as endosymbionts is fairly common in life on Earth: almost all eukaryotes have them in the f…

This episode: Training a phage strain on bacteria can increase its ability to control those bacteria for much longer than an untrained phage! Download Episode (5.7 MB, 8.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Pepper yellow leaf curl Indonesia virus News item Takeaways With resistance to antibiotics spreading more and more among deadly bacte…

This episode: A bacterial communication signal makes algae stop growing, which helps them survive virus attacks! Download Episode (5.3 MB, 7.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Veillonella parvula Takeaways Many interesting interactions between microbes take place in the ocean. As single-celled organisms lacking complex sensory organs, m…

This episode: Transplanting microbes from some corals to others could help the corals survive high temperatures! Download Episode (5.7 MB, 8.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces olivaceoviridis News item Takeaways The ever-rising temperatures of our modern world are putting more and more stress on various ecosystems. This is …

This episode: Bacteria can resist the force of gravity in liquid culture by covering themselves with goopy sugar polymers like parachutes! Download Episode (10.4 MB, 15.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Brevicoryne brassicae virus Takeaways Put bacteria in a centrifuge, and most of the time you end up with a compact pellet of cells at …

This episode: Newspapers report on scientific studies about microbiomes a fair amount, but certain kinds of studies are more likely than others to show up in the news! Download Episode (5.7 MB, 8.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Cafeteriavirus-dependent mavirus Takeaways Research into the human microbiome has generated a lot of intere…

This episode: A virus of archaea stops cells from dividing, so they just keep getting bigger and releasing more viruses! Download Episode (6.9 MB, 10.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces caelestis Takeaways Viruses affect their hosts many different ways: instant hostile takeover of cellular machinery, lurking unseen in the ge…

This episode, in honor of World Ocean Day: Bacteria that may move between high and low pressure areas in the ocean use a particular molecule to protect their cells from being crushed! Download Episode (6.6 MB, 9.5 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Rickettsia rickettsii News item Takeaways Life in the ocean can have many challenges, depen…

This episode: Spores of some bacteria latch onto the tails of other bacteria and ride along as they move around in the soil! Download Episode (5.5 MB, 8.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Bohle iridovirus News item Takeaways The soil is a complex environment, and microbes that live in soil need complex lifestyles to thrive. There are ma…

This episode: Some bacteria produce antibiotics that can also help them gather more nutrients! Download Episode (5.0 MB, 7.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Diadromus pulchellus toursvirus News item 1 Takeaways Antibiotics have saved a lot of lives since they were discovered and used to treat many previously untreatable bacterial infec…

This episode: Single-celled eukaryotes can thrive without oxygen with the help of bacterial endosymbionts that respire nitrate the way our mitochondria respire oxygen! Thanks to Jon Graf for his contribution! Download Episode (12.4 MB, 18.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Brenneria salicis News item 1 / News item 2 Takeaways The combin…

This episode: Despite being photosynthetic, some kinds of algae engage in predatory behavior, hunting and consuming live bacteria! Download Episode (4.9 MB, 7.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Paramecium bursaria Chlorella virus 1 News item Takeaways Although most of them are microscopic, algae perform a significant portion of the phot…

This episode: Lighting in caves open to tourists supports the growth of unwanted photosynthetic bacteria! Download Episode (6.6 MB, 9.5 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Dill cryptic virus 2 Takeaways Caves can contain amazing beauty, intricate geological formations formed by minerals, water, and time. Some, such as Carlsbad Caverns in N…

This episode: Deep-sea bacteria can detoxify cadmium and convert it to light-capturing particles! Download Episode (5.8 MB, 8.4 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Arthrobacter virus Sonny Takeaways Hydrothermal vents can have thriving communities, despite being too deep for much light to penetrate. Microbes can derive energy from chemical…

Finally found some good stories, so we're back! This episode: How slime molds encode and use memories built into their own bodies! Download Episode (4.6 MB, 6.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Aeromonas salmoncida News item Takeaways Despite being single-celled organisms, slime molds have fairly complex behavior, including a basic form…

This episode: Giant bacteria with many chromosomes in each cell carry extra genes to help them live in many different environments! Download Episode (8.7 MB, 12.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Propionibacterium virus SKKY News item Takeaways We think of bacteria a certain way: too small to see and having mostly just a single large ch…

This episode: The biofilm that probiotic bacteria can leave behind on a titanium implant seems to help it integrate better with the existing skeleton, with less inflammation and risk of infection! Download Episode (5.5 MB, 7.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Methylobacterium organophilum News item Takeaways Skeletal implants make it a …

This episode: Engineered bacteria encapsulated in little beads sense chemicals from landmines and give off light! Download Episode (6.4 MB, 9.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Bifidobacterium pullorum Takeaways Landmines are a good way to take an enemy by surprise and do some damage. They're so good that some places in the world still …

This episode: An interesting bacterial genetic element protects against viruses in a unique way! Download Episode (7.1 MB, 10.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Mongoose associated gemykibivirus 1 News item Takeaways Even single-celled, microscopic organisms such as bacteria have to deal with deadly viruses infecting them. And while the…

This episode: Certain gut microbes protect mice from harmful effects of high-energy radiation! Download Episode (7.3 MB, 10.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Solenopsis invicta virus-1 News item Takeaways High-energy radiation can be very dangerous. Besides a long-term increased risk of cancer due to DNA damage, a high enough dose of r…

This episode: Algae surviving impact that killed the dinosaurs seem to have consumed other organisms to make it through the dark times! Download Episode (7.1 MB, 10.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Chaetoceros tenuissimus RNA virus 01 News item Takeaways Being able to look through time and learn about what might have happened to creat…