Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Queen of Swords · 05-01-2003, 12:22 AM

Hi guys,

I'm offering my services as a guest lecturer to several universities in the area, and I'd like to have a few topics in mind right away. Considering that not many of these colleges are into heavy-duty science, I thought I'd solicit ideas on what about microbiology - and specifically bacteriology - the layperson or science undergrad might be interested in.

Plus, do you think the following topics would be good?

Biological warfare
The degradation of oil spills by bacteria
The earliest forms of life on earth (though I'm not sure if this will piss off Muslim creationists)

Thanks for any help you can give me!

pz · 05-01-2003, 04:34 AM

I am not a microbiologist, but I recently had to cover for a colleague who was out on maternity leave. It turns out the subset of the subject on which I gave a couple of lectures was very enthusiastically received: the immune system. I don't know about your university, but here, anything that caters to the interests of the pre-meds is instantly popular.

BioBeing · 05-05-2003, 03:20 PM

How about evolution of bacterial resistance to antibiotics? [Don't forget to mention triclosan - a pet subject of mine if you need any details!]

BioBeing · 05-05-2003, 03:23 PM

And related to the immune system... development of anti-bacterial (and viral) vaccines - hot area now.

Doubting Didymus · 05-05-2003, 04:42 PM

I particularly remember microbial ecology from my introductory courses. I'm going to do a full strand on that, just because I liked it so much from the brief mentions it got in cell biology.

sugarbeth · 05-06-2003, 10:28 AM

Do the extremophiles. Those bacteria that live in the ocean vents or in geysers all the way to the ones found in antarctica. Talk about how Thermus aquaticus' polymerase helped ramp up the PCR techniques.

I grew up Thermus aquaticus once. The media had all sorts of gnarly ingredients like sulphuric acid. The buggies were bright yellow and grew up in a waterbath so hot I couldn't stick my hand in it. Amazing little guys, those.

And you can talk about them in the context of life's origins.

MadKally · 05-08-2003, 04:10 PM

The amazing and unbelievable microbiology experiment I found growing in the back of my refridgerator for class.

Kally

QoS,
How about getting liver flukes by just sticking a toe in the Ganges River? Not to mention other amazing parasites.

05-01-2003, 12:22 AM	#1
Queen of Swords Contributor Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Canada. Finally. Posts: 10,155	Ideas for lectures on microbiology Hi guys, I'm offering my services as a guest lecturer to several universities in the area, and I'd like to have a few topics in mind right away. Considering that not many of these colleges are into heavy-duty science, I thought I'd solicit ideas on what about microbiology - and specifically bacteriology - the layperson or science undergrad might be interested in. Plus, do you think the following topics would be good? Biological warfare The degradation of oil spills by bacteria The earliest forms of life on earth (though I'm not sure if this will piss off Muslim creationists) Thanks for any help you can give me!

05-01-2003, 04:34 AM	#2
pz Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Morris, MN Posts: 3,341	Re: Ideas for lectures on microbiology I am not a microbiologist, but I recently had to cover for a colleague who was out on maternity leave. It turns out the subset of the subject on which I gave a couple of lectures was very enthusiastically received: the immune system. I don't know about your university, but here, anything that caters to the interests of the pre-meds is instantly popular.

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05-05-2003, 03:20 PM	#3
BioBeing Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Memphis, TN Posts: 6,004	How about evolution of bacterial resistance to antibiotics? [Don't forget to mention triclosan - a pet subject of mine if you need any details!]

05-05-2003, 03:23 PM	#4
BioBeing Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Memphis, TN Posts: 6,004	And related to the immune system... development of anti-bacterial (and viral) vaccines - hot area now.

05-05-2003, 04:42 PM	#5
Doubting Didymus Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: East Coast. Australia. Posts: 5,455	I particularly remember microbial ecology from my introductory courses. I'm going to do a full strand on that, just because I liked it so much from the brief mentions it got in cell biology.

05-06-2003, 10:28 AM	#6
sugarbeth Regular Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Bellevue, WA Posts: 375	Do the extremophiles. Those bacteria that live in the ocean vents or in geysers all the way to the ones found in antarctica. Talk about how Thermus aquaticus' polymerase helped ramp up the PCR techniques. I grew up Thermus aquaticus once. The media had all sorts of gnarly ingredients like sulphuric acid. The buggies were bright yellow and grew up in a waterbath so hot I couldn't stick my hand in it. Amazing little guys, those. And you can talk about them in the context of life's origins.

05-08-2003, 04:10 PM	#7
MadKally Banned Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: LALA Land in California Posts: 433	The amazing and unbelievable microbiology experiment I found growing in the back of my refridgerator for class. Kally QoS, How about getting liver flukes by just sticking a toe in the Ganges River? Not to mention other amazing parasites.

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