Microbial Culture Video

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Team Brokaryotes presents: MICROBIAL CULTURE!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbnoet3e91I

Created by Albert, Inho, Rei, and Rod!

In this video, we combined different languages and cultures, as well as interpret microbiological concepts through dance (in which case we consider to be a different language on its own)!

Artists’ Statement:
When Rei asks Inho something about Microbiology, Inho suddenly answers in a different language. Now every time someone tries to explain the concepts, they suddenly change languages to something the other cannot understand. This portrays the diversity and “culture” of the microbial world, drawing parallels to the macro-world. We also incorporated a dance/piece to interpret microbiological concepts.

Art Project: “Extreme Environments”

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My name is Kjersten Williams. For my art project, I decided to go with mixed media. I constructed the microbes’ background environments out of paper and colored pencil, and made the microbes themselves out of modeling clay, giving the project a bit of visual depth. For my subject, I decided to focus on a specific group of microbes: the temperature extremophiles. I wanted to showcase the variety of different morphologies and habitats of these microbes (through the relatively accurate depiction of the microbes and their respective environments), while also making a statement against the general belief that all microbes are “bad’ (hence, the added shaky eyes to make them cuter and more personable). These microbes live in environments which would be deemed uninhabitable to the majority of life forms on Earth. Due to their resilience and adaptability, they represent the type of organism which astrobiologists may be most likely to find on other planets!

There are a couple mesophiles included for the sake of contrast. The microbes represented are: Chloroflexus aurantiacus (the red snake-like thermophilic bacterium represented against the background of a hot spring area), Methanopyrus kandleri (the blue, rod-shaped hyperthermophilic archaea set against the background of hydrothermal vents), Deinococcus radiodurans (a mesophilic bacteria represented by the green tetrad set against the forest background), Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans (a mesophilic bacterium represented by the purple, rod-shaped microbe with the pink flagellum), Psychrobacter arcticus (the blue diploid psychrophilic coccobacillus bacterium with pink spots, which is set against the aquatic background underneath the ice layers), and Planococcus halocryophilus (the blue-green diploid cocci bacterium set against the polar background).

 

Microbes in the News Assignment: Post #3

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— Article and link: “Too Clean for Our Children’s Good? The Checkup’ by Perri Klass, MD, The New York Times, April 17, 2017.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/17/well/family/too-clean-for-our-childrens-good.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FBacteria&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection&_r=0

— Summary: This article talks about the many various ways in which our children are protected from interaction with microbes, including giving birth by caesarian section, bottle-feeding, and possible exposure to antibiotics. Such protection on the one hand affords protection from disease but on the other hand offers greater risk that children may experience complications of the “built environment.’ It is a concern that living in such a clean, controlled environment could lead to an underdeveloped immune system and subsequent health problems which may have otherwise been avoidable had the body been exposed to a diverse array of microbes at a young age. In order to combat this problem, it is recommended that young children be introduced to these microbes in the outside environment through “controlled exposures’ in the form of either “natural exposure’ consisting of interaction with their environment or through a type of vaccine yet to be developed.

 

— Connections: This article include discussion of the development of the human microbiome, its importance in the overall health of an individual, the avenues by which children are typically first exposed to microbes, and also the concept of vaccination with microbes in order to improve health. All of these are topics which have been mentioned or discussed over the course of the semester.

 

— Critical analysis: I liked the contrast that the author provided between the microbes found outdoors as opposed to those found within the “built environment.’ While I had naturally assumed that the inside of a house or apartment may be “cleaner’ than the outside world, I had not given much thought to the members of the microbial populations to be found in each of the two environments; in reality, the inside of a dwelling is not necessarily any more microbe-free than the outside, it is instead simply inhabited by a different, and possibly narrower, variety of microbes. I did not detect anything scientifically inaccurate or confusing in this article, and think that it did perform an adequate job in relaying this information to the public. The author did not get too technical in any of their explanations, yet clearly stated the anticipated problem, reasons behind that belief, and also the possible solutions to the problem.
— Question: Are researchers suspecting that the health problems mentioned are primarily due to inadequate exposure to pathogenic bacteria? Or do interactions with the non-pathogenic bacteria also play a role in shaping the immune system of children? What kinds of “natural exposures’ are parents advised to pursue in order to assist their child’s immune system to develop properly?

A2: Microbes in the News

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Article: Balloon Experiment Reveals Earth Microbe’s Likely Fate on Mars

Link: SPACEREF MARS TODAY , https://astrobiology.com/2017/04/balloon-experiment-reveals-earth-microbes-likely-fate-on-mars.html

Summary: To know the limit of what microbes can stand is important for preventing contamination of Mars when our spacecraft arrive. In October 2015, a giant balloon launched to the sky, which is an altitude of 31 kilometers to find microbes which is contaminated and brought by human experiment. Another study found that almost all of bacteria will die within few days by ultraviolet radiation from the sun. David J. Smith of NASA’s Ames Research Center, conducted the experiment ,called the Exposing Microorganism in the Stratosphere(E-MIST), and this experiment brought samples, which is in the phase of endospore from the atmosphere. This result suggests that microbes which stick to a spacecraft to Mars can manage to survive the journey.

Connections: This topic is connected to the idea like “Microbes are everywhere’ even in the atmosphere.

Critical analysis: This article said microbes are dormant or endospores when they are in the atmosphere. However, if they find some microbes, it’s possibly from somewhere in the earth sticked to human made aircraft. Or, if microbes are in dormant or endospores and they are packed by meteorite, the shock is huge when they land on the surface on Mars. Therefore, even they have tolerance for UV, it’s difficult to survive in the space.

Question: How microbes can survive in the space when they are dormant or endospores?

A2: Microbes in the news

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Article title: Behind the iron curtain: How the methan-making microbes kept early Earth warm Behind the iron curtain: How methane-making microbes kept the early Earth warm

 

Date: Arpil 17, 2017

Article author was not listed but the research’s author was: m S. Bray. The article was provided by the Georgia institute of Technology.

Source: Phys.org

Link: https://phys.org/news/2017-04-iron-curtain-methane-making-microbes-early.html

Assignment author: Morgen Southwood

Summary-

Marcy Bray and his team simulated early earth conditions to try and explain why the oceans could be liquid in the first two billion years. The prevailing theory is that methanogens provided enough methane for the green house effect to maintain liquid oceans. The problem with this theory is that, as we learned in class, methanogenesis is an inefficient system, and can be out competed when alternatives are possible. One major competitor in this time period was the rust-breathing microbes, they would dominate any environment when iron was available. The term iron curtain, refers to the potential for rust-breathing microbes to repress methane emissions when rust is plentiful. If methane was completely suppressed then the planet would likely have cooled. The microbiologists simulated early earth to study microbial diversity and methane emissions in varying conditions. They found that in iron free pockets of the oceans, methanogens could have thrived and been enough of a source of methane for keeping early Earth warm.

Connections-

This article strongly related to our lectures on the methane cycle It also related to some exam 1 material, when we learned about the ferrous and ferric iron signatures that signaled changes in early earth microbial diversity.

Critical analysis-

This article could have used some more explanations. I understood the conclusions it drew, but I wouldn’t have been able to without material I learned in this class. I would have needed someone to fill in the blanks for me. It was important to understand why rust-breathing microbes would have outcompeted methanogens, and the significance of shifts in microbial diversity with different conditions etc. The article assumed/required the reader to know this supplementary information, and therefore it was not accessible to the general public.  I think the article was scientifically accurate in the way it described the idea proposed by the results of the study, however the title is misleading. The title seems portray that the study was a confirmation, when it was only supportive of the idea.

Since I did have some background information, this article was very interesting to me. When I thought about the major shifts in microbial diversity of the planet , I always thought about microbes relating to oxygen. These rust breathing microbes and methanogens were just as important stepping stones in shaping the Earth.

Question-

The conclusion of the article is that methane emissions could have come from microbial communities that were in rust free patches of the ocean. I thought that the ocean was well mixed. How could there be sections of the early ocean that were so poorly mixed that they lacked iron, while other areas had high levels of iron?

 

A2: Microbes in the News Assignment

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Microbes in the News !

Over the course of the semester, post 3 different stories involving microbes  from the popular media and then read and comment on 3  posts by other students.

 

Points: Total possible = 30 points. Earn up to 8 pts for making a post and 2 points for posting a comment. Create 3 posts and 3 comments over the course of the semester.

Deadline: All posts and comments must be made by April 24 to receive credit.

 

Learning Objectives:

– Increase your awareness of microbiology and its role in society

– Expand and apply your knowledge of microbiology

– Practice critical thinking by analyzing popular news media for scientific accuracy

– Develop questions about microbiology

– Help your peers and yourself understand microbiology by answering their questions

 

Instructions:

Over the course of the semester, create 3 separate Microbes in the News posts on the course website, and then read and comment on 3 Microbes in the News posts by other students. Be sure to follow the guidelines below in order to qualify for  full credit.

 

Guidelines for creating a post:

– Article and link: Enter the title, source, and date of the article and create a link to it. Articles should be from any popular media source (newspaper, magazine, podcast, blog,  etc.) that others can access without hitting a paywall. Any relevant story is acceptable, but challenge yourself to find stories that are current (~within the last 3 months) and that haven’t yet been posted by your peers, whenever possible.

– Summary: Write a short summary of the story (just a few sentences is sufficient).

– Connections: Explain briefly how this connects to what we’ve covered in class.

– Critical analysis: Explain what you found interesting about this story, and what (if anything) you learned. Comment on whether you think the story was scientifically accurate or not. If you noticed any factual inaccuracies or aspects of the story that might inadvertently confuse or misinform readers, identify those and provide a more accurate explanation. Also comment on how this was written. Do you think it did a good job of communicating science to the public? Why or why not?

– Question: Write a question about microbiology that you had as a result of reading this story.

– Categorize: Categorize your post as “A2: Microbes in the News’ using the categories menu on the right. This will ensure I can find it and give you credit.

– Tag: Tag your post based on any relevant microbiological themes by choosing from the tag menu (below categories on the right). Use existing tags when possible, but you can add new ones if needed by clicking “+Add New Category’ link just below the list of tags. This will help us find stories on relevant themes. You can also use these tags to search for other students’ stories on themes that interest you.

Guidelines for commenting on a post:

– Read the news story and the students’ post about it

– Create a comment and write a response to their critical analysis. Do you agree, disagree, or have more to add?

– In your comment, answer their question to the best of your ability. This might require some independent research.