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Category: Itty Bitty Organisms

Viruses, germs, archaea et al.

Fungal Zombie Disease of Ants

Fungal Zombie Disease of Ants

It’ll be a short one tonight, but since I’ve been discussing zombies and things that can go wrong with brains, how about a quick blogmas post on a fungal infection that turns ants into zombies? Trying to come up with a topic, it was suggested that I just do a short write-up about a “strange disease”. The strangest disease that came to mind is not one that infects humans, though. Fungal Infection of Carpenter Ants The disease that came to…

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Fecal Microbiota Transplants and Probiotics

Fecal Microbiota Transplants and Probiotics

Healthy Eating, Probiotics, and your Microbiota We’re  still on the general subject of things you may not want to eat. The idea that what you eat has an effect on your health has been well known for centuries. Modern research has been probing this concept more deeply and has shown that it’s not just what you eat, but what happens to it afterwards. After the food you eat gets attacked by acids and digestive enzymes in your stomach, it moves…

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Merry Blogmas for December 2: Diatomaceous Earth

Merry Blogmas for December 2: Diatomaceous Earth

What’s a Diatom? Diatoms are microscopic algae creatures that live in oceans, seas and deep lakes. When they die, their hard shell-like skeletal remains fall to the lake or sea bottom. Their fossilized remains are made of amorphous silica with the approximate chemical composition of opal, SiO2·nH2O. The “n” in that chemical formula means that the amount of water mixed in with the silica dioxide is not really known. Layers of pure fossilized diatom remains are called diatomite. What’s Diatomaceous Earth?…

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Beer as a Risk-Factor for Malaria

Beer as a Risk-Factor for Malaria

This would be funny if it wasn’t actually real. First, let’s talk about malaria followed by the connection between malaria and beer. MALARIA Malaria is one of the nastiest diseases known. It is caused by several different species of itty bitty protozoans from the genus Plasmodium. The Malaria Disease Vector A disease vector is medical-speak for the way a disease is transmitted between people. As you probably remember from high school biology, the vector for malaria protozoans are vampire bugs, otherwise known…

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The Composition of Human Fart Gas

The Composition of Human Fart Gas

We’re still packing up to move so short “science lite” posts will continue until we get settled in on the other side of the country. Today’s post is about something you’ve all been wanting to know about: human fart gas! HUMAN FART GAS Have you ever been kept from sleeping at night pondering what farts were made of? Ponder no longer. You can now sleep well at night because the knowledge you seek is here at hand! Strangely enough, fart gas…

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The Lovely Rosy Waters of the Great Salt Lake

The Lovely Rosy Waters of the Great Salt Lake

THE GREAT SALT LAKE The Great Salt Lake is so salty that no fish can live in it. Regardless, it supports its own unique fishery based on Artemia salina, the brine shrimp. Only organisms adapted to extreme salinity can survive. The microscopic ones give the northern half of the lake its rosy color. The conditions that support these rosy-color organisms are: an accident of geography ( interior drainage). a railroad causeway An accident of geography The Great Salt Lake is…

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