Comments on: The Ocean's Skin of Jelly http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/07/27/the-oceans-skin-of-jelly/ Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:13:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: To Cap Off A Multimedia Week, How About A Podcast? | The Loom | Discover Magazine http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/07/27/the-oceans-skin-of-jelly/#comment-11864 To Cap Off A Multimedia Week, How About A Podcast? | The Loom | Discover Magazine Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:40:56 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/07/27/the-oceans-skin-of-jelly/#comment-11864 [...] The American Society of Microbiology has asked me to take over a biweekly podcast of theirs called “Meet the Scientist.” In each episode I’ll be talking with one of the many scientists who explore biology’s vast invisible world.  For my first podcast, I spoke to Michael Cunliffe, one of the scientists I wrote about recently who studies the ocean’s skin of jelly. [...] [...] The American Society of Microbiology has asked me to take over a biweekly podcast of theirs called “Meet the Scientist.” In each episode I’ll be talking with one of the many scientists who explore biology’s vast invisible world.  For my first podcast, I spoke to Michael Cunliffe, one of the scientists I wrote about recently who studies the ocean’s skin of jelly. [...]

]]> By: Scotty B http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/07/27/the-oceans-skin-of-jelly/#comment-11863 Scotty B Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:34:04 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/07/27/the-oceans-skin-of-jelly/#comment-11863 Carl, Is there an RSS feed for your NYTimes columns? <strong>[Carl: Not that I know of...]</strong> Carl,

Is there an RSS feed for your NYTimes columns?

[Carl: Not that I know of...]

]]> By: Hank Roberts http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/07/27/the-oceans-skin-of-jelly/#comment-11862 Hank Roberts Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:27:20 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/07/27/the-oceans-skin-of-jelly/#comment-11862 Okay, this is wonderful. I think most of the funds for biofilm work have come from the oil industry, because of the elaborate structures that grow inside the pipes carrying raw oil from the wells. http://www.google.com/search?q=biofilm+montana+institute Nobody seems to have asked why the biota coming up with the oil have this inclination and what it might be that they're so avidly trying to reconstruct on the only available surface, the inside of the pipes. They're just studying ways to kill them off -- pump the pipes full of chemicals, basically. So -- biofilm. The ocean-air interface is one (we may well ask if this continues onto land and fresh water, since every surface we know of that's left alone gets covered. Desert pediment? We know it's what makes watersheds produce clean water -- if left undisturbed. We know the odd gunk that comes out of the distilled water taps at any new research building, or any that's been left alone for a while. Heck, it shows up at the doctor's and dentists' offices. It's the bits thrown off by the organisms that can make a decent if slow living on the inside of the distilled water pipelines, picking the useful remaining bits out of the water produced by the distillation apparatus. And -- the Biofilm Institute at Wyoming has wonderful information on this -- we know biofilms are the stuff of next generation medicine, the stuff that lives on catheters, the stuff that falls out of the air vents in hospitals and goes into lungs. So -- who's studying this stuff? Certainly the best place to look, if we can look, would be undisturbed oil structures. Whatever the organisms are building in those environments, they've had plenty of time. Anyone figured out a way to take a MRI of an oil structure, without breaking it up first? Put in some long metal pipes at various places, and .... hmmmm .... http://www.biofilmsonline.com/ http://www.erc.montana.edu/res-lib99-sw/newsarchives/Current_Newsletter.htm We know macroscopic organisms share resources -- look at deep rooted trees in dry areas and the commensal organisms around their roots. Please, more. If you know someone who's blogging on this, please give a pointer. Okay, this is wonderful.

I think most of the funds for biofilm work have come from the oil industry, because of the elaborate structures that grow inside the pipes carrying raw oil from the wells.

http://www.google.com/search?q=biofilm+montana+institute

Nobody seems to have asked why the biota coming up with the oil have this inclination and what it might be that they’re so avidly trying to reconstruct on the only available surface, the inside of the pipes. They’re just studying ways to kill them off — pump the pipes full of chemicals, basically.

So — biofilm. The ocean-air interface is one (we may well ask if this continues onto land and fresh water, since every surface we know of that’s left alone gets covered. Desert pediment?

We know it’s what makes watersheds produce clean water — if left undisturbed.

We know the odd gunk that comes out of the distilled water taps at any new research building, or any that’s been left alone for a while. Heck, it shows up at the doctor’s and dentists’ offices. It’s the bits thrown off by the organisms that can make a decent if slow living on the inside of the distilled water pipelines, picking the useful remaining bits out of the water produced by the distillation apparatus.

And — the Biofilm Institute at Wyoming has wonderful information on this — we know biofilms are the stuff of next generation medicine, the stuff that lives on catheters, the stuff that falls out of the air vents in hospitals and goes into lungs.

So — who’s studying this stuff?
Certainly the best place to look, if we can look, would be undisturbed oil structures. Whatever the organisms are building in those environments, they’ve had plenty of time.

Anyone figured out a way to take a MRI of an oil structure, without breaking it up first? Put in some long metal pipes at various places, and …. hmmmm ….

http://www.biofilmsonline.com/
http://www.erc.montana.edu/res-lib99-sw/newsarchives/Current_Newsletter.htm

We know macroscopic organisms share resources — look at deep rooted trees in dry areas and the commensal organisms around their roots.

Please, more. If you know someone who’s blogging on this, please give a pointer.

]]> By: Flying sardines http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/07/27/the-oceans-skin-of-jelly/#comment-11861 Flying sardines Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:19:28 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/07/27/the-oceans-skin-of-jelly/#comment-11861 Skin of jelly? What flavour? ;-) Skin of jelly? What flavour? ;-)

]]> By: Mark Siddall http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/07/27/the-oceans-skin-of-jelly/#comment-11860 Mark Siddall Tue, 28 Jul 2009 01:21:55 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/07/27/the-oceans-skin-of-jelly/#comment-11860 And this is why you're still my fave science writer. There's room for earthworms in your writing... mundane, but as Darwin noted, profound. <strong> [Carl: Thanks! Of course, perhaps I should point out this praise was written by an expert on leeches....]</strong> And this is why you’re still my fave science writer. There’s room for earthworms in your writing… mundane, but as Darwin noted, profound.

[Carl: Thanks! Of course, perhaps I should point out this praise was written by an expert on leeches....]

]]>