Cyanobacteria cells act as tiny spherical lenses

While it has long been known that some cyanobacteria move (or crawl) towards light, how these cells detect the direction and source of light was undescribed until recently. In Cyanobacteria use micro-optics to sense light direction, Schuergers et al. (2016) investigated Synechocystis phototaxis and found that each cell acts as a microscopic spherical lens, focusing an intense light spot close to the opposite side …

Microbial communities and biodeterioration of Auschwitz buildings

A new open access paper in Frontiers in Microbiology looked at the microbial communities found on buildings of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. I’m currently travelling, so I only have time to post the abstract here.  One Hundred Years by The Cure, a song about war and destruction, seemed a good choice for this post. …