We discussed in the previous chapter that the gut has a cellular wall around it composed of human epithelial cells as well as the fluid mucus layer. Both act as a physical barrier; however, our mucus provides a sort of no-man’s-land where phages wait for prey and microbes establish their niche. The mucus that lines … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: June 2017
Reverse Sunset
The sun had already set when my plane took off in Philadelphia. A gold-grey haze that made the clouds look like peeling varnish on a mirror that is reflecting candle flame. But as we flew north and very slightly east, a glowing red began to bubble over the dark clouds. We were flying not into … Continue reading
Growing Up
When my grandfather was thirteen, he came home from school and found his mother was gone. No note. No food. Just an absence in the house. He did what any normal thirteen-year-old boy would do which was continue life as usual. He went to school. He stole food from convenience stores. He kept quiet that … Continue reading
2.0 THIS SHIT CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE (3)
A solitary bacterium triggers the innate immune response in various ways. It can shed microbial elements such as lipopolysaccharides (LPS—sugar chains that dangle from bacterial cell walls) that act as MAMPs. Or it can be ingested by a dendritic cell that is feeling through the mucus layer for anything that is foreign[1]—to name two. Bacteria … Continue reading
2.0 THIS SHIT CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE (2)
With constant mucus flow, changing nutrient availability, and other ecosystem stressors, our internal bionts have to quickly respond to constant flux. Microbes thrive in the gut in part because they are communal organisms. In the initial colonization of the intestines, intrepid microbes looked out on the turbulent yet nutrient-rich landscape and declared it good. They … Continue reading
JUST THE FACTS (Merry Youle)
Merry Youle, author of Thinking Like a Phage, gives us JUST THE FACTS: WHO do you look to for motivation/inspiration? Every writer who has shared their own particular insightful view of the world, and thereby expanded mine. Also essential as you are starting out are encouragement and opportunity, provided in my case by Forest Rohwer and Elio … Continue reading
Janus Stories
Like Janus, New Orleans has at least two faces and a multitude of stories that chorus in your ears during the afternoon thunderstorms. They wake you up at night with their rush and pound; they build throughout the day with humidity and pressure, until you are begging the city to spill its tales. I lived … Continue reading
