About the blog

"If I could do it all over again, and relive my vision in the twenty-first century, I would be a microbial ecologist. 

Ten billion bacteria live in a gram of ordinary soil, a mere pinch held between thumb and forefinger. They represent thousands of species, almost none of which are known to science.  Into that world I would go with the aid of modern microscopy and molecular analysis. 

I would cut my way through clonal forests sprawled across grains of sand, travel in an imagined submarine through drops of water proportionately the size of lakes, and track predators and prey in order to discover new life ways and alien food webs.  All this, and I need venture no farther than ten paces outside my laboratory building.

The jaguars, ants and the orchids would still occupy distant forests in all their splendor, but now they would be joined by an even stranger and vastly more complex living world virtually without end. "

–E.O. Wilson, The Naturalist

 

The adventures of wild microbes are what got me started in microbiology and keep me going. I'm a metabolism geek and a sulfur biogeochemistry freak, so all things microbial, marine, stinky and sulfidic will probably be featured prominently.

In this blog, I plan to share some of my favorite stories of microbes and the people who love them with you here.  I'll also try to post updates on current topics, and a combination of stuff for both general and more specialized audiences.  As an openly gay woman in science, I also care about issues affecting diversity and women in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Math, and Engineering).