• Refocusing the Microscope

    I grew up staring out at the stars through my parents’ antique telescopes; marvelling at the tiny pinpricks of twinkling light and how, on a clear night, the Milky Way streaked across the sky. There are more than 100 billion stars in our galaxy, and more than 1,000 billion galaxies in the...

  • Natural isn't always harmless, especially if you are a rhino

     At this time of year, the Kruger National Park in South Africa reaches temperatures of up to 38 degrees Celsius. This has nothing to do with the subject of this post, but I thought I would use it to illustrate one of my newly recognised great discoveries of the 20th century—in-car...

  • Survivorship Bias in Science

     Let’s imagine for a moment that uncertain job prospects and too much caffeine pushes me over the edge and I gather up every monkey in the world and shut them in a room with a bunch of computers. Sometime later, I return to a lot of flung poo and, among all the random strings of letters typed by...

  • Gut Inflammation and Antibiotic Resistance

     A Salmonella infection has some very obvious and unpleasant effects on the unfortunate person who failed to wash or cook their food correctly. But it also messes with the bacteria that live in our guts, and that’s not a good thing when it comes to the emergence of new pathogens...

  • Lag phase adapts bacteria to new environments

     Forgotten to defrost the chicken overnight in the fridge? That’s fine—you can leave it to thaw at room temperature, right? It will be quicker, after all… But, within just a few hours, the tiny bacteria hiding in frozen food such as chicken, beef or that left over Chinese takeaway can start to...

  • Middle of the Road Pays for Pathogens

     To understand why infectious diseases make us ill, it helps to consider disease from the pathogen’s point of view. Bacteria, viruses and parasites did not evolve simply to cause illness and suffering; virulence is simply a by-product of a pathogen’s fight for survival. Because an infectious...

Sunday, 4 December 2016

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When Bad Bugs Go Badder

Posted by Kathryn at 15:28 • 0 comments
The Beijing lineage of M. tuberculosis is the villain in a movie sequel. Nastier, scarier, harder to kill. You thought tuberculosis (TB) was bad? Think again. The Beijing lineage is that little bit worse, associated with a speedier disease progression and increased antibiotic resistance. I’ve always had a thing for studies...

Saturday, 26 November 2016

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The Missing Three Million

Posted by Kathryn at 11:37 • 0 comments
In Agra’s slums, community volunteers are visiting the houses one-by-one and asking the occupants a simple question: “Have you been coughing for more than two weeks?” Of the ten million new cases of TB every year, one-third remain invisible to the public health authorities. India currently holds the dubious title of World’s...

Sunday, 20 November 2016

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Blame the Europeans

Posted by Kathryn at 15:44 • 1 comments
You know when you drive an unfamiliar car and you have to find your way round all these knobs and buttons to make the car go in the direction you want it to go in? M. tuberculosis has the same problem when it comes to the human immune system. This can make things tricky as it’s a pathogen that practices immune subversion rather...
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