Blog archive
June 2023
Bridget Brewster Discovers Village Benefits
06/04/2023
Rumor of Humor #16
06/04/2023
Communications Project with Cal State LA
06/02/2023
Creative Aging
06/01/2023
May 2023
One Villager's Story
05/31/2023
Pasadena Area Liberal Arts Center
05/31/2023
Pasadena Village Responds to Rainbow Flag Burning at Pasadena Buddhist Temple
05/31/2023
Plan Ahead - And Be Prepared
05/31/2023
Tuesday, May 23 Pasadena Celebrated Older Americans
05/31/2023
Reparations, Social Justice Activity
05/24/2023
Rumor of Humor #14
05/19/2023
Rumor of Humor #13
05/12/2023
Issue #12
05/09/2023
Science Monday - Review of Meeting on April 10, 2023
05/09/2023
Conversations Re African American Artists Before 1920
05/08/2023
Beyond the Village – Suzi and Phil Hoge
05/01/2023
Congratulations Wayne April! Honored at UNH
05/01/2023
Table Topics
05/01/2023
Volunteer Appreciation at the Village
05/01/2023
“ACCIDENTAL HOST—The Story of Rat Lungworm Disease”
05/01/2023
April 2023
Jumbo Joy
04/24/2023
Pasadenans Recent Experience With Racism
04/23/2023
Recent Events Reflecting Racism
04/23/2023
Fig and Goat Cheese Bruschetta
04/18/2023
Photography for Social Justice
04/11/2023
Issue #8
04/07/2023
BEYOND THE VILLAGE - Catherine Deely
04/06/2023
Creative Writing in Older Adults
04/06/2023
Gifts of Love
04/06/2023
March 2023
Issue #7
03/31/2023
Issue #6
03/26/2023
Great Decisions update
03/14/2023
Dominion Lawsuit, South Africa and 710 Stub
03/08/2023
February 2023
2023 DEI Progress
02/27/2023
BEYOND THE VILLAGE - Doug Colliflower
02/26/2023
CONVERSATIONS WITH ART
02/26/2023
GREAT DECISIONS
02/26/2023
OLDER ADULTS RESOURCE FAIR
02/26/2023
The Important, Influential Books in our Lives - Revisited
02/26/2023
History, Resolution of the 710 Freeway
02/19/2023
Eminent Domain, 710 Highway
02/13/2023
Bernard Garrett, 710 Freeway
02/06/2023
Men's Times Gatherings
02/03/2023
January 2023
Pasadena's Senior Commission
01/30/2023
BEYOND THE VILLAGE - JIM HENDRICK
01/27/2023
GRATITUDE - IT'S GOOD FOR YOU!
01/27/2023
JEFF GUTSTADT - FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST
01/27/2023
Bernard Garrett, Incredible Black Entrepreneur
01/17/2023
What is the "Spirit Talk" Group About?
01/16/2023
Same Ol’ New Year, Brand New Me
01/12/2023
Review of 2022, Consideration of 2023
01/06/2023
BEYOND THE VILLAGE - PATTI LA MARR
01/03/2023
FROM THE CHAIR
01/03/2023
WALK WITH EASE
01/03/2023
Science: Ocean Microbiome & Microscopic Animacules
By Bob SnodgrassPosted: 06/15/2022
PASADENA VILLAGE SCIENCE Monday; SUMMARY OF May 9, 2022, meeting
Present: Dick Myers, Karen Whitmore, Joy Wilson, Bob Snodgrass
This was a most unusual meeting, the first attended by Joy Wilson, one of the first for Karen Whitmore, and Dick Myers, a loyal member who is handicapped by poor vision. Nobody had anything prepared for presentation, so we chatted for a while and I gave my prepared presentation on the ocean microbiome, a subject which interested me from my younger days, having grown up on an island and spent much time in the ocean.
Van Leeuwenhoek’s early reports of microscopic animacules that he saw in pond water, mouth secretions, etc. don’t seem to have included ocean water. He was a draper who built his own microscopes to see the quality of thread better than he could with simple magnifying glasses. He soon became captivated by all the living things that he saw. He wrote no books but sent frequent reports to the Royal Society of London (about 190 in all). Because there had been no previous reports of single celled organisms, his reports were greeted with skepticism. The Royal Society sent a group of observers to see van Leeuwenhoek and his microscope. The observers confirmed all his reports in 1677.
The modern ideas about the microbiome developed slowly. Sergei Winogradsky who was born in 1856 in Russian-controlled Kiev is usually considered the father of microbial ecology. He studied bacteria responsible for the spoilage of wine and various foods. While chief microbiologist at St. Petersburg, he discovered the process of nitrogen fixation; the process whereby soil living microbes convert free atmospheric nitrogen in stable compounds such as ammonia, nitrate and more. He insisted that organisms should be grown and studied in their natural habitat, rather than culture dishes. This wasn’t possible until science had progressed much further, with the development of electron microscope in Germany in the later 1930s, the discovery of DNA as the basis for most life (RNA serves that function in many viruses) and of DNA sequencing in the late 1970s. Sequencing was initially done by hand and was slow and laborious. Now it is done quickly by machines. Many viruses and bacteria living in the ocean and elsewhere can’t be grown in culture but can be identified by sequencing. Most viruses can’t be seen without electron microscopy.
Only in the last 15 years have systematic studies of ocean microbiomes begun. Viruses appear to be more numerous than bacteria in most Ocean regions. Ocean samples from 100 miles away are usually different as are those taken during different seasons. Most oceanic bacteria and viruses are not pathogenic to humans. The majority of viruses that infect humans and other mammals have RNA genomes. Effects of increased oceanic acidity and temperature are expected to produce significant changes in the ocean microbiome.
Our next meeting will be Monday June 13th at 4 PM- we always meet on the 2nd Monday of the month. Barbara Madden has sent me a copy of her presentation for tomorrow, on dog genomics (June 13th). Please reach our if you'd like a copy. Also, may obtain the Zoom code from Belinda in the office.
Bob Snodgrass