Microbe Themed Comics and Cartoons #ASMicrobe #Microbiology

Posted a request to Twitter about microbe themed comics and cartoons and am posting some of the Tweets here.

In association with #AsmMicrobe I am looking for everyone’s favorite microbiology cartoons or comics - this is mine - Early Microbiologists pic.twitter.com/JqDm9HF68V

— Jonathan Eisen (@phylogenomics) June 22, 2019

From @RosemaryMosco pic.twitter.com/trUTjDKbvs

— Reed Stubbendieck (@bactereedia) June 22, 2019

pic.twitter.com/aPobtVoSco

— Omri Finkel (@finkel_omri) June 22, 2019

pic.twitter.com/rXl07PhrvE

— Kristen DeAngelis, PhD (@kristenobacter) June 22, 2019

pic.twitter.com/8xhNi3051m

— Michele Banks (@artologica) June 22, 2019

Inspired by @RELenski? pic.twitter.com/R2BtUAZhJ5

— Michele Banks (@artologica) June 22, 2019

For the microscopists. pic.twitter.com/qKbNQsvvz1

— Tim Stearns (@StearnsLab) June 22, 2019

Here's mine. And also the inspiration for the title of talks I give to student organizations and school groups. - Me and My 'Crobes pic.twitter.com/6uwOXk22Ai

— Dave Westenberg (@GermJuggler) June 22, 2019

pic.twitter.com/DV4rCPCHFq

— Wim Meijer (@WimGMeijer) June 22, 2019

The great @beatricebiology made this for me and my microbiology class one year. @ASMicrobiology @univpugetsound pic.twitter.com/3adOe2pMZy

— Mark O. Martin (@markowenmartin) June 22, 2019

Always been my favorite. pic.twitter.com/mgmhOVU50J

— peter hoyt (@peterrhoyt) June 23, 2019

pic.twitter.com/MwBAuz0zPW

— Petra Levin (@PetraLevin) June 25, 2019

pic.twitter.com/vP5yP4uD5d

— Nefertiti (@ReloadNefertiti) June 22, 2019

pic.twitter.com/Bn2kFL5DdU

— Wim Meijer (@WimGMeijer) June 22, 2019

Entamoeba humor pic.twitter.com/cIPjwXTHWf

— Sophien Kamoun (@KamounLab) June 23, 2019

Sometimes the old ones are the best....#Microbiology pic.twitter.com/JNZ4qQVgfR

— OpenMind (@MyOpenMind101) June 22, 2019

Has to be this one by @pedromics pic.twitter.com/NTf0oB7Tca

— Gleb Ebert (@gl_eb) June 22, 2019

Here is one by the Indian cartoonist RK Laxman - https://t.co/k78yefh9vU

— Prasad (@vinayaka1prasad) June 22, 2019

pic.twitter.com/5cAXKyJ7WC

— Srijon Banerjee (@srijonbanerjee) June 23, 2019

My favorites are on the same topic: pic.twitter.com/R3YFe1A2Tv

— Adriana ME (@AdriMarquezE) June 22, 2019

This is one of my favorites! pic.twitter.com/p8bQDLaBMS

— Fernando Melo (@frankbio) June 22, 2019

pic.twitter.com/jbr2BroemI

— Mark S (@DrMarkScience) June 22, 2019

Networker cartoon pic.twitter.com/c4dSj43OE8

— Valery Grdzelishvili Lab (@Virology_Lab) June 22, 2019

This one is in portuguese but it is hilarious. This cartoonist always uses biological themes in his drawings.

The translation:
- I'm so alone .... I'll duplicate myself!
- Hi! You come here often?
- What an annoying dude!
- Let's go!!

by Fernando Gonzales #NiquelNausea pic.twitter.com/TuB6JzGjgK

— Fernando Melo (@frankbio) June 22, 2019

From io9: Even more microbial art "Bacterial communities swarm into gorgeous works of art"

Another quick post.  There is an article in io9 about art from Eshel Ben-Jacob and his beloved Paenibacillus: Bacterial communities swarm into gorgeous works of art.  Some pretty cool images there of these organisms grown on plates and then artistically enhanced.

Definitely worth a look.

Must read of the week: For Better Science Meetings, Invite an Artist The Finch and Pea

Art by @artologica in my living room

This is just such a good idea: For Better Science Meetings, Invite an Artist | The Finch and Pea.  Michelle Banks, also known as artologica, writing at The Finch and the Pea, goes through a detailed argument, with examples, of why one should invite artists to science meetings.

I have been inspired by Michele at many meetings.  And I have been inspired by her art with a science theme (see for example the posts listed below).

• My new microbe art corner w/ three works by @artologica 
• Microbial & Evolution art by @artologica has whole new meaning now that I met her at @scio12 
• Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' I chortled in my joy - I have received my Tree of Life art from @artologica 
• So psyched. Got my new artwork from @artologica .... Even better than I imagined from web pics).

I have written a bit here and there about the mixing of science and art.  See for example

• The human microbiome never looked so good
• Cool bacterial art makes gizmodo #MicrobialArt
• Microbial art for the holidays from the J. Craig Venter Institute
• Headline says it all "Opera singer grows algae on her face by feeding it w/ her breath & then the audience eats it"
• This is both crazy and completely brilliant: The Microbial Academy Of Sciences
• Art Meets Science at the Keck Center in DC
• Yes I like mixing science and art - but "DNA2Art" seems a bit, well, non artsy #visualiztion≠art
• More pics of hand painted poster from #synbio5
• More art & science - hand painted poster at Synthetic Biology #synbio5 - by Karmella Haynes
• Absolutely spectacular - glass microbes
• Nice Darwin Art at #UCDavis Evolution/Ecology Dept.
• More Airport Dinosaurs - Denver This Time
• Tree of Life Art
• Art-Science Fusion and Darwin's Face at Davis
• Germophobia: wanna get people in the mood for "Contagion" movie about killer virus - grow harmless microbes in public #microbialart
• Another week - another microbial art project
• Fun science art example: Jennifer Welsh on Zachary Copfer glowing microbe drawings
• Preparation Y: Michelle Ellsworth - Performance art mixing dance, genomics, evolution, humor, sex #brilliant
• Microbes, art, science all rolled into one - yum

But if you read one thing about science and art - read Michele's new post.  Or, even better, start inviting artists to any science conference you have any role in.

The human microbiome never looked so good

Another week, another microbial art project --- this one is from Erno-Erik Raitanen who is creating self portrait "bacteriograms" using his own microbiome.  See stories at Petapixel: Photographer Erno-Erik Raitanen Creates 'Self-Portraits' Using His Own Bacteria and CoCreate: INSTAGERMS: SEE A PHOTOGRAPHER’S STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL PORTRAITS OF HIS OWN BACTERIA. 

From CoCreate

“The process itself is pretty much a replication of the processes used in microbiology to cultivate bacteria on agar in petri dishes,” Raitenan says. “Instead of agar, I just used the film gelatin as my growth medium. As the bacteria grows, it consumes the gelatin layers that together make all the colors in a color photograph, and creates all these random patterns and colors.”

The human microbiome never looked so good ...

My new microbe art corner w/ three works by @artologica

Microbes, art and a bit of satire all in one place - Design Interactions at the RCA

Got pointed to an interesting site recently - "Design Interactions at the RCA"  This is a program (or as they call it - a programme) at the Royal College of Art in London.  One of the current students - Lana Porter - contacted me about a possible project she was working on involving microbes.  She also pointed me to some past projects connected to microbes from the program.  The two she pointed to are:

• Viruses, close enemies or distant cousins? | Design Interactions at the RCA. From Mikael Metthey.  It appears to be from a few years ago but I am not sure.  Regardless, it is pretty humorous.  It is basically a description of an attempt to create "more intimate ways to approach the process of vaccination" by having poxteddy bears and cowpox rides and vaccination playgrounds.
• The Race.  From Michael Burton.  Also from a few years ago. This one is about antibiotics and microbial evolution and the hygiene hypothesis.  

And then browsing around the site led to some other interesting concepts:

• MICROBIOMIC BAPTISM from Mathias Vef. 
• SPACE BACTERIA from Jae Yeop Kim. 
• SYNTHETIC KINGDOM from Daisy Ginsberg. 
• MIDAS MICROBES from Gerrit Kaiser. 

Seems like a fun programme (or program) ...

Most unusual use of #microbes of the week: fermented fashion

Fermented clothing on mannequin from
http://bioalloy.org/o/projects/micro-be.html

Well, this is certainly unusual: The Genteel | Fermented Fashion.  I found out about this from a Tweet from Irene Kim

Fashion & science's newest frontier: garments made from the bacterial fermentat'n of wine! thegenteel.com/articles/desig… @microbeworld @phylogenomics
— Irene Kim (@wabibitotweets) June 27, 2012

Anyway the article describes the "Micro'be'" project for which more details are available here.  Some interesting details at that site include a description

Imagine a fabric that grows...a garment that forms itself without a single stitch!
The fashion that starts with a bottle of wine...
Micro'be' fermented fashion investigates the practical and cultural biosynthesis of clothing - to explore the possible forms and cultural implications of futuristic dress-making and textile technologies.
Instead of lifeless weaving machines producing the textile, living microbes will ferment a garment.
A fermented garment will not only rupture the meaning of traditional interactions with body and clothing; but also raise questions around the contentious nature of the living materials themselves.
This project redefines the production of woven materials.
By combining art and science knowledge and with a little inventiveness, the ultimate goal will be to produce a bacterial fermented seamless garment that forms without a single stitch. 

So - in essence they are trying to grow clothing as a side product of wine fermentation.  Not sure what it is like to wear such clothing - or to be around someone wearing it - but it is a fun idea.

Art Meets Science at the Keck Center in DC

Some nice science-art on display at the Keck Center where I was for a NAS/IOM meeting today.  Here are some pics.

Germophobia: wanna get people in the mood for "Contagion" movie about killer virus - grow harmless microbes in public #microbialart

Well, this story is pretty cool in many ways. David Coil, who works on my "microBEnet" project posted an entry on our blog: Microbial art in the built environment: bacterial billboard goes viral which called my attention to the story.

Seems that the folks promoting the microbe-focused movie "Contagion" came up with a fun marketing idea. They created a living billboard with microbes on it



It is pretty cool. Just watch how the letters come out and the billboard becomes 3D. It would be fun to do this with some event at UC Davis .. will have to think about it. But overall, I think this idea is really cool and very very well executed.

However, I do want to note some of the reporting on it has gotten a few details a bit off. For example, in the Washington Post: ‘Contagion’ bacteria billboard is exactly what it sounds like (Video) - Celebritology 2.0 - The Washington Post they write

"A YouTube video shows the process in which “two large Petri dishes were inoculated with live bacteria including penicillin, mold and pigmented bacteria.” The result is the most amazing, creepy and literal viral marketing campaign in recent history"

So psyched. Got my new artwork from @artologica .... Even better than I imagined from web pics

 Art by Michelle Banks.  Check out her store. 

Notes from a trip to Woods Hole, MA to teach #genomics at the MBL Microbial Diversity Course

Here are some notes from my recent trip to Woods Hole, MA where I went to give a talk for the Marine Biological Lab "Microbial Diversity Course".

Day 1:  Thursday

My trip started quite poorly.  I wrote a whole post on the first day so if you want more detail go here: A squatter's journey to the Marine Biological Lab (MBL).  I posted (of course) to twitter along the way.  Here are some of my posts:

• Heading to Woods Hole/MBL-giving talk for symposium for the Microbial Diversity Class http://t.co/o2hx0tf #fb
• Anyone out there recommend best way to get from Logon to Woods Hole after 10:30 PM (no Peter Pan bus) w/o renting car? 
• Got lots of responses to this including from @ctitusbrown and @PhoebeFossil and @larry_parnell
• Best suggestion was from Julie Huber
• Thank you Delta for out early arrival in MSP- not so many thanks for sitting on runway for 20 minutes ad more waiting for gate
• Yhgtbfkm - we finally got to a gate at MSP and the gate agents keep missing our door with jetway
• @nwheat maybe I'll see you as I head to my connection
• Had a long twitter conversation with her about the fact that both of our flights were becoming disasters
• Plane was very late bit now in a nice Prius from Green Shuttles on way to Woods Hole #gomicrobes http://t.co/zwAHWy
• UGGGH - arrived Woods Hole/MBL; got dorm room key at 1am; woman in room not very happy; finally got other hot crummy dorm room; Ahh MBL

Day 2: Friday: Hanging out at MBL

Woke up at the Swope Dorms and, thanks to the lovely reception I got from the Housing Staff (see A squatter's journey to the Marine Biological Lab (MBL) again for more detail) I was not very happy.  I went in to town to get a latte and something to eat and then made it over to the Microbial Diversity Course to hear a few talks and see some of the folks there.  Then I went back to my dorm room, packed up my stuff and abandoned Swope and went to the Sleepy Hollow Motor Inn just up the road, a bit out of town.  I had already called and they held a room for me (I tried the one place actually in town but they were full).  So I checked in, dumped my stuff and then walked back in to town.  I eventually ended up going to dinner with some of the course TAs and other personnel.