Tiny Living Beings

How can you get started with hobby microscopy? What products and practices do we recommend? Why do we have a conflict with the Unicode emoji consortium? And what on earth is a vinegar eel??? Find out all these things and more on this week's episode where I talk to Dr. Lena Struwe about our shared love of microscopy, answer questions from instagram followers, and cover topics that range from iNaturalist to community science to why I refuse to swim in a pond.

Dr. Lena Struwe, PhD, FLS is a professor at Rutgers University whose research focuses on plant evolutionary biology and systematics. She is the director of the Chrysler Herbarium and runs the Botanical Accuracy blog and Facebook group. You can follow her publications here

We discuss these specific resources on this episode:

1. Freshwater Algae of North America book
2. iNaturalist (follow Lena here)
3. Amateur Microscopy Facebook group
4. Global Biodiversity Information Facility, or GBIF

Lastly, Lena put together an AMAZING list of other online and in print resources that was too large to fit in the show notes, but you can access it here. This list includes both guides for identifying different types of microorganisms and links to different online communities to join to learn more about microscopy and cataloging organisms or to post your findings.

For more info on microbes and to follow updates of this podcast, find @couch_microscopy on Instagram, @CouchMicroscopy on Twitter, or visit www.couchmicroscopy.com/store for merch!

Music is "Introducing Cosmic Space" by Elf Power and "Vorticella Dreams" by L. Felipe Benites.

The views and opinions expressed on this program are those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any institution.

Why don't we ever talk about archaea? What can we learn from this domain of life? Why would someone want to cook a chicken in a Yellowstone National Park geyser? Find out about these things and more on this week's TLB episode. Dr. Arthur Charles-Orszag is here to teach us about Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, a sulfur-oxidizing archaeon that lives in super hot and acidic environments. We discuss Arthur's work studying DNA segregation in this microbe and we also unpack many common misconceptions about Archaea as a domain of life.

Dr. Arthur Charles-Orszag, PhD is a postdoctoral fellow in the Mullins Lab at University of California-San Francisco. You can find his work on ResearchGate and follow on Twitter: @A_CharlesOrszag. Arthur is also heavily involved with Archaea Power Hour. You are encouraged to sign up for the e-mail list and/or the Slack channel on archaea.page.

For more info on microbes and to follow updates of this podcast, find @couch_microscopy on Instagram, @CouchMicroscopy on Twitter, or visit www.couchmicroscopy.com/store for merch!

Music is "Introducing Cosmic Space" by Elf Power and "Vorticella Dreams" by L. Felipe Benites.

While some of the content on this podcast may be relevant to human or veterinary medicine, this information is not medical advice. The views and opinions expressed on this program are those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any institution.

What can we get algae to do for us (other than be beautiful and produce half of our oxygen)? How can we engineer different algae to create products and services we need? And what do algae SMELL like? Which smell like feet and which smell like "milky grass"? Dr. Kyle Lauersen is on this week's episode answering these questions and more! He explains all about his research on algal biotechnology and how we can engineer these tiny green cells to produce chemical products that are useful to us and clean up industrial and other aquatic waste. From aquaculture feeds, to perfumes, to ice creams without freezer burn, the little machines that are algal cells can do some amazing things! (We also take some time to discuss the Cyanidiophyceae red algae which are near and dear to my heart.)

Dr. Kyle Lauersen, PhD is an assistant professor at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). There he runs a lab that focuses on synthetic biology and metabolic engineering of various types of algae. You can follow his work on his lab's website, GoogleScholar, ResearchGate, and on Twitter: @KyleLauersen.

For more info on microbes and to follow updates of this podcast, find @couch_microscopy on Instagram, @CouchMicroscopy on Twitter, or visit www.couchmicroscopy.com/store for merch!

Music is "Introducing Cosmic Space" by Elf Power and "Vorticella Dreams" by L. Felipe Benites.

While some of the content on this podcast may be relevant to human or veterinary medicine, this information is not medical advice. The views and opinions expressed on this program are those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any institution.

What the heck are glaucophyte algae? And where are they found? Spoiler alert: everywhere and nowhere. This week, Prof. Debashish Bhattacharya talks about Glaucophyta, one of the most ancient photosynthetic eukaryotic lineages on the planet and why they are great models for understanding evolution and endosymbiosis (a process introduced in last week's episode). He focuses on Cyanophora paradoxa, the most well-studied glaucophyte, what we can learn from this organism and its ancient origins, why few have studied the glaucophytes, and why it's important to explore our planet's biodiversity.

Dr. Debashish Bhattacharya, PhD is a distinguished professor in the department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at Rutgers University. He runs a research program that focuses heavily on genomics and evolution and has worked on organisms including red seaweeds, red algal extremophiles, green algae, Paulinella, dinoflagellates, coral reefs, and sub-par postdocs. Debashish was the recipient of the 2022 Miescher-Ishida prize for endosymbiosis. He is also passionate about science communication and has produced award-wining short films describing his lab's research and its impacts that can be found on YouTube. You can follow his work on his website, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, or on Twitter.

Links to things mentioned in this episode:

1. Paper describing Glaucocystis bhattacharyae (alga named after Debashish)

2. Trends in Genetics paper we wrote about horizontal gene transfer

3. Cyanophora paradoxa genome paper

4. Book chapter on glaucophytes that I like because it covers everything

5. Paper on the "menage a trois" (or MAT) hypothesis

For more info on microbes and to follow updates of this podcast, find @couch_microscopy on Instagram, @CouchMicroscopy on Twitter, or visit www.couchmicroscopy.com/store for merch!

Music is "Introducing Cosmic Space" by Elf Power and "Vorticella Dreams" by L. Felipe Benites.

The views and opinions expressed on this program are those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any institution.

"Photosynthesis is very important if you care about breathing."

Half of the oxygen on the planet is produced by microbes. Dr. Awra Gabr talks about the photosynthetic Paulinella lineage of rhizarian amoebas that represent an independent acquisition of a photosynthetic organelle in eukaryotic cells. This is HUGE because this kind of event has only successfully occurred two other times in the four billions year history of life on Earth. We talk about the ins and outs of this process, why Paulinella is the most annoying organism to work with with, and I explain why half of the episodes of this podcast have been about amoebas.

Dr. Arwa Gabr, Ph.D. is a graduate of the Microbiology and Molecular Genetics program at Rutgers University. You can follow her on LinkedIn and find her publications on ResearchGate.

In the intro of this episode I give a kind of convoluted explanation of amoebas. Here is a link to an open access paper from 2019 about how eukaryotic life is classified. There have been other papers in the three years since that have added to this field but I like this one because Figure 2 is a great illustration of the eukaryotic tree of life and you can see where the Discoba (Percolozoa), Rhizarians, and Amoebozoa all fit (as it currently stands). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.07.031

For more info on microbes and to follow updates of this podcast, find @couch_microscopy on Instagram, @CouchMicroscopy on Twitter, or visit www.couchmicroscopy.com/store for merch!

Music is "Introducing Cosmic Space" by Elf Power and "Vorticella Dreams" by L. Felipe Benites.

While some of the content on this podcast may be relevant to human or veterinary medicine, this information is not medical advice. The views and opinions expressed on this program are those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any institution.

As a society we have (rightly) spent soooo much time talking and thinking about SARS-CoV-2 but what about the billions of other viruses out there, most of which don't infect humans? This week evolutionary virologist Alvin Crespo talks about cassava mosaic begomoviruses which infect cassava plants, a food crop that is the main source of carbohydrates for the people of sub-Saharan Africa. We talk about where this virus came from, where all viruses may come from, and we also tackle topics related to 'parachute science', the scientific method and its limitations, and whether or not I am a generally ignorant person. It was fascinating learning about plant epidemics but sad to learn about the devastation they cause. However, as Alvin says during our conversation, we can learn a lot from these outbreaks which can hopefully prepare us for emergent plant viruses of the future.

Alvin Crespo is a PhD candidate in the Ecology and Evolution program at Rutgers University in the Duffy lab. You can follow him on Twitter: @alvincrespo2 or read his published work on Google Scholar.

Here are some links to things we mentioned in the episode:

1. Alvin's research is funded by a n NSF Program called "PIRE: U.S.-East Africa Research and Education Partnership: Cassava mosaic disease - A paradigm for the evolution of insect-transmitted plant virus pathosystems".

2. Here is the NSF award abstract and a list of the related publications to date

3. Collaborating institutes: North Carolina State University, North Carolina A&T, Rutgers University, Auburn University, Biosciences eastern and central Africa International Livestock Reasearch Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub in Nairobi, Keny, Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI)- Mikocheni in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and JOMO Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in Nairobi, Kenya.

4. Here is a link to the phycologist mentioned from Burkina Faso, Dr. Bilassé Zongo: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bilasse-Zongo

5. Also, fun fact: it is the 40th anniversary of the first sequenced cassava mosaic begomovirus!

For more info on microbes and to follow updates of this podcast, find @couch_microscopy on Instagram, @CouchMicroscopy on Twitter, or visit www.couchmicroscopy.com/store for merch!

Music is "Introducing Cosmic Space" by Elf Power and "Vorticella Dreams" by L. Felipe Benites.

Did you know that one third of the food we eat is transformed by microbes? Why did people start eating sauerkraut? Will veggie burgers ever taste better? Is humanity doomed??? We answer these questions and more on this episode of TLB. Bacteria and many fungi may be invisible to the naked eye but their impact is all around us and is especially important when it comes to food. Chef, author, food scientist, fermenter, and TV personality David Zilber talks about the past, present, and future of fermentation and why fermented foods taste so good, are a healthy choice, and are a powerful weapon in the fight for a sustainable future. He lays out the rough path ahead for human society when it comes to reworking some of our most prevalent structures (e.g., capitalism, globalism, the non-local nature of food production) but leaves us with a message of hope. This episode is also a must-listen if you want the tea (or should I say red wine) on Top Chef Canada season 10.

David Zilber is the head of fermented food research and development at Chr. Hansen, a bioscience company based in Denmark. He is a former chef and head of the fermentation lab at Noma which has three Michelin stars and is commonly referred to as the "best restaurant in the world". David is also New York Times bestselling author of The Noma Guide to Fermentation (which I highly recommend) that has revolutionized how home and professional chefs around the world incorporate fermentation practices into their cooking, and he is currently a judge on Top Chef Canada. To follow his work and impeccable book recs on social media, find him on Instagram: @david_zilber. I also want to link "The Entropy of a Carrot" which was mentioned; definitely worth reading.

For more info on microbes and to follow updates of this podcast, find @couch_microscopy on Instagram, @CouchMicroscopy on Twitter, or visit www.couchmicroscopy.com/store for merch!

Music is "Introducing Cosmic Space" by Elf Power and "Vorticella Dreams" by L. Felipe Benites.

While some of the content on this podcast may be relevant to human or veterinary medicine, this information is not medical advice. The views and opinions expressed on this program are those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any institution.

What do some amoebozoans and the urban planners of Tokyo have in common? And who is smarter? What even is intelligence? Find out by learning about Physarum polycephalum, a slime mold (aka "slimy guy") you could find on a walk in the woods. Scientist Kyle David talks about the lifestyle and weird features of P. polycephalum and how, even when it's meters long and wrapping itself around trees, it's really still only one single cell. We also talk about human vs. non-human intelligence, how this amoeba defies the human-created and often nebulous paradigms of "biological sex", and what we can learn from the formidable microbes around us.

Dr. Kyle T. David, PhD is a postdoctoral fellow in the Rokas Lab at Vanderbilt University, who has studied the evolution of many organisms, from yeasts to frogs! To follow his work, check out his Google Scholar page or follow him on Twitter: @KyleTheDavid, where he regularly goes viral for posting weird science stuff.

Here are some links to studies referenced in this episode if you're interested in further reading:

1. https://www.nature.com/articles/35035159

2. https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.0912198107

3. https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1215037109

4. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2016.0446#d4543081e1

5. https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.018101

For more info on microbes and to follow updates of this podcast, find @couch_microscopy on Instagram, @CouchMicroscopy on Twitter, or visit www.couchmicroscopy.com/store for merch!

Music is "Introducing Cosmic Space" by Elf Power and "Vorticella Dreams" by L. Felipe Benites.

While some of the content on this podcast may be relevant to human or veterinary medicine, this information is not medical advice. The views and opinions expressed on this program are those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any institution.

If you have a dog, you'll want to listen to this one! Leptospira is a genus of spirochete bacteria that can infect many different mammals, from rats to rhinos. Veterinarian Kyra Hartog talks about what Leptospira do in nature and why some animals get Leptospirosis and others do not. She also describes symptoms and treatments and gives advice on how to keep your dogs safe! We also go on a rant about outdoor cats' impact on wildlife that you won't want to miss.

Dr. Kyra Hartog, DVM is a veterinarian at a cat and dog clinic in St. Pete, Florida. To follow her work, find her on Instagram: @dr_kyra_h and Twitter: @kyra_hartog.

If you want to follow Murray, my cat son (who has been officially diagnosed as extremely cute), his instagram is: @furry_purry_murray.

For more info on microbes and to follow updates of this podcast, find @couch_microscopy on Instagram, @CouchMicroscopy on Twitter, or visit www.couchmicroscopy.com/store for merch!

Music is "Introducing Cosmic Space" by Elf Power and "Vorticella Dreams" by L. Felipe Benites.

While some of the content on this podcast may be relevant to human or veterinary medicine, this information is not medical advice. The views and opinions expressed on this program are those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any institution.

Naegleria fowleri is a Percolozoan flagellate protist known as the "brain-eating amoeba". While fatal to humans, this microbe doesn't have a sinister motive. In fact, as Dr. Bromagen explains, infecting humans has no benefit to the amoeba and will be fatal to it as well as the infected human. In this episode we discuss the ecology, natural history, and pathogenicity of Naegleria fowleri and then things get existential...

Dr. Seth Bromagen, PhD is a parasitologist and assistant professor of zoology at Kentucky Wesleyan College. To follow his work, find him on Twitter: @seth_bromagen or check out his website: www.bromagenparasitology.com. He also has a fascinating background which can be read here.

For further reading on preventing Naegleria fowleri infections and why knowledge and education is key to preventing future infections, visit www.amoeba-season.com.

For more info on microbes and to follow updates of this podcast, find @couch_microscopy on Instagram, @CouchMicroscopy on Twitter, or visit www.couchmicroscopy.com/store for merch!

Music is "Introducing Cosmic Space" by Elf Power and "Vorticella Dreams" by L. Felipe Benites.

While some of the content on this podcast may be relevant to human or veterinary medicine, this information is not medical advice. The views and opinions expressed on this program are those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any institution.