FDA Bans Antiseptics: One Small Step for Bacteria and Humankind

FDA Bans Antiseptics: One Small Step for Bacteria and Humankind

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned 19 antiseptic chemicals from over-the-counter soaps, hand and body washes. Citing concerns over long-term human safety and increased selection for antibiotic resistance, the FDA banned antiseptic chemicals on September 2, 2016. Antimicrobial washes also didn’t perform better than standard soap and water [1, 2]. Despite these findings and concerns, toothpaste, “First aid antiseptics”, antiseptic wipes, health care antiseptics, consumer antiseptic rubs, or antiseptics used by food industry CAN continue to use these 19 antiseptic chemicals [3-5]. Triclosan and triclocarban found in products including mouthwash, toothpaste, soaps, shoes, and toys, are two well-known antibiotics now banned from use in washes.

Book Review: Multitudes of Praises for Ed Yong’s “I Contain Multitudes”

Book Review: Multitudes of Praises for Ed Yong’s “I Contain Multitudes”

Ed Yong‘s I Contain Multitudes gives you the secret tour of the amazing world of beneficial microbial-host interactions and the passionate, quirky scientists driving the work. The importance of microbes to humans hit the media with a superhero-sized *TWACK* 5 to 7 years ago, when data from the Human Microbiome Project began to be published. Since then, the human microbiome has been implicated in everything from obesity and diabetes to anxiety and autism. Scores of books, good and not so, have been written in these early years of the microbiome, yet they all focus on the HUMAN microbiome. As a science blogger for National Geographic and writer for The Atlantic, Ed became engrossed with microbial-host interactions. If you’ve read a recent article on the human microbiome, chances are it was one of his. Here’s the secret  – people have been studying microbial-host interactions in insects, squid, plants, lichens, corals, and other mammals – for centuries! We often know MORE about how these other microbes interact with their hosts during development, on a molecular, cellular, ecological, and evolutionary aspect than we do with human-microbe interactions. In fact, it’s this amazing field of non-human-microbe interactions that is the foundation the human microbiome work often

5 Thoughts for Improving Science Education from ASMCUE2016

PhD programs in science rarely include training in how to teach, much less teach effectively or write exams. Mine was no exception. Aside from a couple of workshops I sought out, my teaching “training” came from having great teachers myself. Thankfully, I’ve had a number to learn from. I also get bored easily and love to think up creative ways to get challenging ideas across to people. Finding ways to teach my 3 and 8-year-old girls about science also helps! At the American Society for Microbiology Conference for Undergraduate Educators (ASMCUE) 2016 meeting I found similar minds – educators who are creative, innovative, and passionate about discovering and sharing effective ways to teach. Even better, attendees were excited, and some perhaps even obsessed, about microscopic organisms. Totally and completely – my people. It’s amazing how much I learned from ASMCUE that will improve my science communication and teaching. Here are some favorites. Teach the students you have, not the ones you want to have.

Let it Glow – Let it Glow – It Can’t Hold it Back Anymore!

Let it Glow – Let it Glow – It Can’t Hold it Back Anymore!

At first, the room is pitch black. My eyes adjust to the darkness and I see two eerie blue-green glowing columns of plastic petri dishes stacked on a table. “Ready? Hold still for 15 seconds”. Click…..click. “Lights”. So began the first #LuxArt portraiture session at the American Society for Microbiology Conference for Undergraduate Educators (ASMCUE) with Dr. Mark O. Martin, University of Puget Sound. Glowing bacteria? Photography by bacterial light? The eerie glow is from a highly bioluminescent, non-pathogenic strain of bacteria Photobacterium leiognathi KNH6 . First collected from K āne ʻohe Bay, O’ahu Hawaii by Dr. Ned Ruby, University of Hawaii and Dr. Eric Stabb, University of Georgia, this nonpathogenic bacterium is unusually bright, produce enough light that you can read by it. Bacterial candlelight, as it were. Outshining its cousins Vibrio sp., Photorhabdus luminescens, and Pseudomonas, scientists are unraveling P. leiognathi’s glowing super power.   Painting with glowing bacteria.  What better way to get students anyone excited about microorganisms? Dr. Mark O. Martin, a self-proclaimed “Microbial Supremacist” uses glowing bacteria to entice students to explore the mysteries of microbiology. Now fellow microbiology educators at ASMCUE created #LuxArt and had #LuxSelfies made. “Doc” Martin was first captivated by bioluminescence as a young

Citizen Science Brings Science Fair Projects to Everyone

Citizen Science Brings Science Fair Projects to Everyone

“Science fairs are for the privileged”, science writer Carl Zimmer wrote after his daughter’s experience this last year. In 2016? Really? Back in the days of shoulder pads and big hair when I did science fair projects – YES. Kids needed teachers, parents, and maybe university or other professionals to give students access to equipment and bound journal articles. So although I was from a middle-class, working family in a small, rural town in North Alabama, I was extremely privileged to have people in my community help and support my interest in all things microscopic. Today, with only a smart phone and Internet access, students can do great science fair projects AND contribute to larger research programs.