In the News: Microbes and the Moon

Fig.1. Comet Lovejoy visible near Earth’s horizon
(Credit: NASA/Dan Burbank, 2011)

From microscopic organisms to lunar rocks, these collections offer a rare view of our solar system. In the news this week are visits with curators who collect comet dust, find new species, protect banana crops, and more!

A Year in the Life of "Collections in the News"

Fig.1. SciColl secretariat is housed at the National Museum of Natural History in D.C.
(Credit: Don DeBold, 2012) 

With 158 articles published and more than a year underway, Collections in the News has sought to raise awareness about ongoing research done with scientific collections. This year brought visitors from 95 countries to our blog who read about a disease detective at the National Museum of Natural History, stopped for their Monday morning coffee break each week, and had the chance to learn how microbes and mammoth bones teach us more about our world.

Some blog highlights for 2015 include article series on international efforts that work to protect the planet’s soils and address climate change problems. We also participated in GIF week with Deep Sea News and celebrated Thanksgiving with maize scientists. Read more below about these article series!

In the News: In A Galaxy Not So Far Away

via GIPHY

Are you dreaming of a galaxy far, far away? These articles will bring you back to our solar system and our moon - not the Death Star - with news on digitizing the Apollo 11 Command Module, outer space amino acids, extreme underground microbes, and more:

Microbes and Middle Schools

Fig.1. Students at Mills Park Middle School studying how dandelions recruit different microbial communities in various soil types (Credit: Laura Cochrane, Mills Park Middle School).

Editor’s Note: For our third installment in the International Year of Soils series, we spoke with Dr. Julia Stevens about her work with soil microbiology and connecting students to science. To learn more about her work with middle school students, click here.

For Julia Stevens, a challenging aspect of teaching microbiology to middle schoolers is the sheer scope of something so small.