The Ed's Up #66

Cholera Bacteria Kill Each Other With Spears To Steal DNA

The Highlander film series is about a race of immortal warriors who try to behead each other with swords, so they can steal the powers of their fallen rivals. This is basically the same story but instead of badly accented Scotsmen with katanas, we have diarrhoea-causing bacteria with syringes. And the stolen powers, rather than moving into victors via weird blue lightning, shuffle across as DNA. (Image: ZaldyImg)
 

A Radio Chat on All Things Microbiome

I did an hour-long radio interview about the bacteria that live with us and how they might affect our health. Also in the segment are the wonderful microbiologists Jonathan Eisen, Jack Gilbert, and Margaret McFall-Ngai. Have a listen.

 

More good reads

• Moral of story: if your roommate is a sociopathic parasitologist, don't evict him. By Rebecca Kreston. Also from her wonderful blog: In the early days of penicillin, we recycled the drug from the urine of treated patients!
• What would happen if the Earth stopped in its orbit? Aatish Bhatia considers in his own inimitable style.
• The events of 2014, as told through seven addresses. A lovely, creative approach to a year-end list, by Amy Davidson.
• "Guess I'll go eat worms.” I missed Robin Henig’s beautiful essay on loneliness last year; you shouldn’t.
• To end 2014, the NYT published a stunner of an Ebola story, narrating the unfolding of a preventable epidemic. By Kevin Sack, Sheri Fink, Pam Belluck & Adam Nossiter.
• Ebola virus may hide in bats, but not the kind of bats we were expecting. By David Quammen.
• China's lunar rover has sent some wonderful new pics back from the moon. By Nadia Drake.  
• Does the FTO gene create risk of obesity? Yes, but only if you were born after World War Two. Carl Zimmer talks about the subtle interplay between genes and time.
• Orcas, Orangutans, Elephants: Legally human, non-human or something in between? Thoughtful post by Barbara King.
• A wonderful tribute to the grammatical diversification of “nope”, by Stan Carey.
• "Once the laughs have worn off, spoof papers can actually do damage to science." Rose Eveleth on the ethics of the BMJ’s Christmas issue and other sarcastic publications.
• "A packrat ducks into a Wyoming cave. This is a mistake..." Brian Switek explores the Natural Trap Cave.
• A great guide to sniffing out bad health journalism, by Carolyn Kylstra, with quotes from me and others.

More good links will be released in tomorrow's linkfest on Not Exactly Rocket Science.

You can also follow me on Twitter, find regular writing on my blog. If someone has forwarded this email to you, you can sign up yourself.

And that's it! Thanks for reading.

-Ed