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Cordyceps: The Real Fungal Apocalypse Behind The Last of Us
Cordyceps have recently gained a lot of attention due to their appearance in the hit video game and TV series, The Last of Us. In the show, the Cordyceps fungus mutates and becomes parasitic to humans. While this is purely fictional, it highlights the fascinating and potentially dangerous properties of this type of fungus.
CRISPR’s Revolutionary Role in Genomic Editing
Until recently, genetics has been like a read only document. We could see and map DNA, but we couldn’t change it in any significant way. That was, until CRISPR but where did it start? Today we’ll be talking about some very basic genetics and how bacteria have led to a massive change in how we interact with it.
Radiation-Eating Bacteria: Deinococcus Radiodurans.
The world’s toughest bacterium, Deinococcus Radiodurans can survive extreme radiation, and has been found thriving in many places - including the inside of nuclear reactor walls. This unique microbe is a type of ancient bacteria, surviving with no clear genetic affinity with any other bacterial lineage.
The Origin of Mueller-Hinton Agar
Jane Hinton is the woman to whom we owe the discovery of the Mueller-Hinton agar used in the Kirby-Bauer test method. She assisted John Howard Mueller, with whom she developed the Mueller-Hinton agar medium at the age of just 20 years old.
Metal-eating bacteria: Aboard the Titanic
The RMS Ttitanic was the largest liners ever built between 1911 and 1912; she was 269 meters long and 28 meters wide made of 1-inch-thick steel and iron. When the wreck was later discovered in 1985 on the ocean floor, it was able to shed light on the details of the sunken ship.
