Some species of streptococci are unique in that they are classified or grouped according to the antigenic structure of their cell walls. Ever wondered how this was discovered? In this article, we will explore the history of how strep grouping came to be in common usage today.

The genus Streptococcus contains many pathogens from numerous body sites. Over 50 species of these gram-positive cocci...

Boyd Woodruff was the son of an East Coast farmer whose ground-breaking research served as a lynch pin for fellow scientists to be able to harvest a plethora of lifesaving antibiotics from every day soil.

Known simply as Boyd, he loved to read and explore the world around him. However, it was not until he was a senior in high school and had to take chemistry that he discovered his true passion...

Microbiologists are a very opinionated group of individuals, and it is, at times, difficult to get consensus and standardization on certain procedures. Whether to heat fix or methanol fix slides in preparation for Gram staining is one of those controversial procedures....

The average soccer ball is about 1.6 million times bigger than a grain of sand. A grain of sand is about a million times
bigger than a single bacterial cell, and a single bacterial cell can be 40 to 100 times bigger than a norovirus...

We know there are all kinds of ways bacteria make us safer. They help digest our food, they create vitamins, decompose waste, and out-compete pathogens from invading our system.

Could bacteria also help catch criminals invading our house?

A study by the Fort Lauderdale police department suggests they may. Recently, studies have been popping up left and right that suggest...

Early Life:

Louis Pasteur is, simply put, a continued source of inspiration for chemists and microbiologists around the world. His work found new ways to preserve our food, revolutionized healthcare, and has potentially saved millions of lives. He fundamentally changed how the world perceived biology by drawing attention to the microscopic building blocks of life. He worked at the...

No, Blood Falls is not the newest Norwegian metal band, but it is actually a naturally occurring geologic wonder.  Blood falls flows out of the Taylor Glacier in Antarctica onto the neighboring West Lake Bonney which is completely frozen over. The isolated (even for Antarctica) anomaly as well as the glacier and valley was discovered in 1911 by an Australian geologist by the name of Griffith Taylor...

If you were on the internet a few months ago, then you more than likely saw this photo. The woman behind this image is Tasha Sturm, a Laboratory Technician for Cabrillo College and became, seemingly overnight, a sensation because of her love of microbiology. The image went viral on social media and news channels. Overnight, microbiology seemingly captured the attention of the world.  She took the...

Space: the final frontier. Most hear the word and are immediately greeted by a myriad of images. Most of which are only fifty years old or younger. Sputnik's primitive shape against the inky blackness of space, a Saturn V rocket's gargantuan form ascending into the sky, Neil Armstrong planting an American flag on the moon, even Chris Hadfield singing a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" from the...

If you have seen the news lately, you may have heard about the recent outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease in New York city, particularly the South Bronx. Over one hundred people have been affected by the illness and twelve people have died from the disease.   While Legionnaire's disease may sound like something that plagued ancient Rome, but it's namesake does not reflect how "young" our knowledge...

Art restoration experts spend countless hours in awkward positions, breathing in harsh chemicals while meticulously cleaning, varnishing, and stippling irreplaceable works of art. A shaky hand or a rough touch could result in the destruction of a priceless work of art.  Consequently, students at the Polytechnic University of Valencia’s Institute of Heritage Restoration may have an unlikely alley. In...