Essential oils serve as a valuable, inexpensive natural supply of useful organic compounds that possess various biological activities, including antimicrobial properties, and most oils emit pleasant and familiar odors. They are an excellent source of analytes for introductory organic laboratory experiments. We report an experiment in which…

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CURE) enhance student retention in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), particularly among students who belong to historically excluded communities. Yet the mechanisms by which CUREs contribute to student integration and persistence are poorly understood. Utilizing the tripartite…

Winogradsky columns were invented by Sergei Winogradsky in the 1880s and have commonly been used as a microbiology classroom learning tool in K-12 and collegiate education. However, they can be challenging to examine with microscopy. We scaled down Winogradsky columns into nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) tubes and replaced the natural sediment…

Objective: Although ADHD is highly heritable, some environmental factors contribute to its development. Given the growing evidence that gut microbiota was involved in psychiatric disorders, we aimed to identify the characteristic composition of the gut microbiota in ADHD. Methods: We recruited 47 medication-naive children and adolescents with…

Background: Familiarity breeds complacency. One case of sore throat can start to sound like another. However, even common viral and bacterial infections can lead to serious sequelae. Clinicians cannot make a diagnosis if they do not consider it in their differential. Case: The presentation -- and subsequent hospitalization -- of a septic 19…

In the classroom, metabolism is often approached and received as a mundane exercise in memorization. Teaching metabolism also faces the challenge of negative perceptions that can impede learning. We sought to improve the learning experience in an undergraduate lecture course on microbial metabolism by implementing an illustrated story that follows…

Decomposition of organic matter controls the flow of carbon and nutrients in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Several kinetic laws have been proposed to describe decomposition rates, but they neglect adaptation of the microbial decomposer to environmental conditions. Here we formalise decomposition as an optimal control problem by assuming that…

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a surfeit of information and misinformation in the media about it. The lockdown in England meant that schools were closed from March to June, meaning that students had limited access, in school, to ask questions and discuss the biology of the novel virus (SARS-CoV-2) or the impact of the…

Health literacy should be developed from early ages, but students, including preservice teachers, hold misconceptions about micro-organisms. The objective of this study was to analyse the knowledge that a sample of 102 Early Childhood Preservice Teachers (PST) had about micro-organisms and about cystitis. The PSTs performed a series of activities…

Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are produced in the gut as a result of microbial action on ingested dietary fiber and have been associated with several health benefits. Herein an undergraduate student experiment that uses gas chromatography equipped with either a flame ionization detector or mass spectrometer for the analysis and quantitation of…

Bacteria form an intense portion of reading and learning for students enrolled in microbiology education. As a part of the foundational course outline of bacteriology, bacterial classification is a significant topic of discussion. The purpose of our study was to analyze whether bacterial classification can be taught with a phylogenetic tree…

Science literacy has many personal and societal benefits that allows for better informed decision-making. Although the importance of science literacy is recognized globally, there are many challenges associated with its promotion. Scientists are more frequently engaging with nonscientific audiences through public outreach activities and with…

Humor is widespread in communication and its use in the context of science is no exception. Although science jokes are pervasive on social media, we are only beginning to understand the mechanisms through which humor affects people's attitudes, opinions, and perceptions of scientific topics. Here, we add to our understanding of how funny science…

Due to the use of online learning platforms and learning management systems, students are now working unsupervised on quiz-taking platforms. These unsupervised online forms of assessment are replacing traditional supervised quizzes in conventional classrooms. It is unclear whether the quiz-taking behaviors of students in these settings align with…

New approaches to microbiology education are needed to ensure equitable representation in microbiology and to build literacy in microbiology and science broadly. To address this goal, we developed a course held at the collegiate level that uniquely integrated microbiology, Indigenous studies, science and technology studies, and arts and…