The two faces of E. coli: my article in Newsweek and interview with the BBC

Posted on June 6, 2011August 22, 2021 by Matt Kristoffersen

On Friday, as the E. coli outbreak gained horrific speed in Germany, Newsweek asked me to write about how this epidemic came to be. Scientists still have a lot to figure out about it, but some things are clear–in particular, that the bacteria have great scope for evolution into new deadly strains, thanks in part to the shuttling of viruses between them. (In my book Microcosm, I explain how this is true not just for E. coli, but for much of life.) My piece appears in the new issue of Newsweek, which you can read online here. (One late-breaking piece of news that didn’t make it in, by the way, is the finding yesterday that the new outbreak appears to have come from bean sprouts.)

While I was working on my Newsweek piece, a reporter for the BBC called me up for an article on the good side of E. coli. I explained how much of how we understand about life itself came out of research on this typically harmless bug, and that the biotechnology industry was build upon its biology. That piece came out over the weekend.Check it out.

[Image: glass microbe by Luke Jerram]

Time to vote for the 3 Quarks Daily Science Prize

Posted on June 5, 2011August 22, 2021 by Matt Kristoffersen

The folks at 3 Quarks Daily are winnowing down the entrants for the best science blog post of the year. They want you to help select the finalists by voting for your favorite post from the 87 nominees. (The Loom makes an appearance at #76 with “The Human Lake.”) You can vote till June 8, 11:59 PM EST.

Arsenic life creates a new blogger: Please welcome Steven Benner!

Posted on June 3, 2011August 22, 2021 by Matt Kristoffersen

During the whole arsenic life kerfuffle, chemist Steven Benner expressed his skepticism early and often. He wrote one of the eight critiques that Science posted last week, six months after the initial paper.

Last night Benner sent me an email:

Carl:

I have now blogged on this, since the cycle of publication at Science is rather slow.

Steve

To which I can only say: Heh. And, Read it!

The chronic fatigue virus: de-discovered?

Posted on May 31, 2011August 22, 2021 by Matt Kristoffersen

One of the most important things that virus-hunters do is “de-discover” links between viruses and diseases. In other words, they follow up on studies that indicate a link and see if it can really hold up. Last year, a team of scientists published a paper in Science in which they reported that 67% of people they studied who suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome carried a virus in their system known as XMRV. Only 3.7% of healthy people did. That association then morphed into the idea that XMRV actually causes chronic fatigue (a condition that afflicts an estimated 60 million people worldwide). Some people with chronic fatigue have sought anti-viral medicines based on the finding, declaring that they’ve felt better as a result. But when a lot of other scientists tried to find XMRV, they failed to do so.

Continue reading “The chronic fatigue virus: de-discovered?” →

Lisa Randall to judge this year’s 3 Quarks Daily science prize. Send in your nomination!

Posted on May 28, 2011August 21, 2021 by Matt Kristoffersen

The blog 3 Quarks Daily awards an annual prize for the best science blog post of the year. This year, Harvard physicist Lisa Randall is judging the entries. The deadline is May 31 11:59 pm EST. If there’s a blog post that has really stood out in your memory from the past year (since May 22, 2010 to be precise), go here to nominate it.