Despite effective prevention methods, measles is a growing problem worldwide. See these resources on the tricks measles uses to spread so rapidly! Before 1960
PATHOGENESIS 2.0 and the “Sex”spansion
It’s back and sexier than ever! My family’s favorite deck building game – Pathogenesis – expands to include an “adult” version as it launches a 2nd printing on Kickstarter February 12, 2019. No longer is your custom-created microbial army limited to attacking skin, gastrointestinal (GI), or respiratory (lung) systems. Instead, Pathogenesis gets sexy with specialized sexually transmitted disease (STD) microbes attacking the Genitourinary tract (GU). In turn, the human body comes to version 2.0 with a strengthened immune system that makes it harder than ever to beat. Which tract will you colonize? Will you succeed in penetrating the body’s barriers and dismantle the active immune system? Play and see. What is Pathogenesis? Pathogenesis is a deck-building game where you are tasked with creating a pathogen to *cue scary music * attack and destroy an organ system of the human body. In Pathogenesis everyone starts with the same number of starter cards (a mix of DNA cards and microbes). Each turn you can select a new trait (that enters your draw pile for future turns), add traits from your current hand to your pathogen pile, attack, and redraw. As you successfully attack the human body, you gain DNA points that can
Bacterial Farts – Whoopie!
Of all the bacterial communities in and on humans, we know the most about the digestive system bacteria. These microbes are extremely important for proper digestion of plant fibers, synthesizing vitamins, short-chain fatty acids, protecting our gut lining, breaking down medicines, and many other properties we are still learning about. One of my favorite science podcasts, Brains’s On!, does a fun job talking about our gut bacterial friends from a different perspective – farts! Depending on your microbial community and what you feed it, sometimes as your microbes are doing their work breaking down the foods we eat they give off gaseous compounds.
#MicrobeWeek: Continuing the Celebration
More #MicrobeWeek YouTube videos including one we made. Yesterday’s post on #MicrobeWeek featured a fabulous video Microbes of New York from the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). #MicrobeWeek was inspired the current microbially focused exhibition The Secret World Inside You, at AMNH (see my review). AMNH teamed up with BrainCraft, Gross Science, and Science Friday to create four YouTube videos and other content about their favorite microbial research.
“‘Cause knowledge is power!” – Schoolhouse Rock
Want to help empower Baltimore’s inner city school kids? Give them knowledge by donating books to reward students in the “Mini Med School for Kids” at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine (SOM). The Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS) is conducting a “flash book drive” for books for West Baltimore elementary school students finishing the Mini Med School program this summer on August 5th. The books can be either gently used or new, for 1st-6th graders, all reading levels and interests, and ideally would be science-oriented. However, any good books are appreciated! Michelle Giglio, one of the IGS scientists teaching said, “IGS is hosting the final session here on campus where the kids will learn about cell structure and make a model of a cell that they can take home. To cap the day we’d like to have a wide selection of books that kids can choose from, so that they can each pick up some to take home.” The “Mini Med School” program is a fabulous program where SOM scientists and doctors are teaching ~ 30 students (grades 1st– 6th) about cellular and human anatomy, heart health, virus transmission, and coping with bullying at the Salvation Army’s Franklin