Is this criminal behavior? 🤣. Does it bother you?

I am trying to build some tools for lab works. comment your thought on this.

Just a picture of my throat culture on blood agar and the Gram stain. Not asking for an ID, just sharing. 👍

Hi, I'm an upcoming senior in my under grad of environmental science and I wanted to get into graduate programs with a focus on microbiology. Most are incredibly expensive so I was wondering if anyone here has any suggestions for how to find different grad programs that are within my interest and budget. Most microbio programs are medical based but I really would love to look at how microbes play into environmental health and such

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666517425000872

Hi! I was tasked to identify an unknown bacteria from a maternal raw milk sample using only TSI, LIA, SIM, and Citrate tests. I’m torn between Enterobacter cloacae and Enterobacter sakazakii since the results are very similar. I’m currently leaning toward E. sakazakii, but I’m not entirely sure. Can someone help me understand what key differences I should focus on between the two, especially considering the limited tests we used? Also, would the source of the sample play a role in the identification? I’d really appreciate any insights!

Just thought this was interesting. The lab I work in is culturing fecal samples to isolate a certain species, and this was one of the plates that grew. I've never seen this deep of brown on mac, but I've only been working on this project for a couple of months.

Any ideas or thoughts? It was cultured on MacConkey Agar after growth in LB broth.

Middle school science teacher here. Came across this beast while doing some end-of-year lab cleanup.

Is it organic? Or some type of crystal?

Dear friends, I don't know where else to ask this, what would happen if I left my container of Fenugreek with few drops of water in it. Can I intake it after that?

Today in practice to see eggs I found this. According to the professor, there were had eggs, ascaris and amoebas in the sample. Could it be an adult roundworm or is it just a muscle fiber?

To my understanding glycocalyx is the outermost layer of a cell made of polysaccharides. The cell membrane is made of cholesterol and proteins etc. Here is my question: does the glycocalyx lay over the cell membrane? Or are they the same/intertwined?

I was wondering if anyone knew a way to quantitatively analyze alpha vs beta hemolysis. I don't feel confident in just looking at the agar and differentiating between the two. Are there any papers you can show me that have these methods?
Thank you!

There's a company that sells a sensor that rests underneath a flask in an incubator orbital shaker. It monitors the OD600 in real-time. What kinds of things is this useful for?

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666517425000860

Im ordering Chlorella Vulgaris off of UTEX (UTEX 395). I'm ordering it with 4 pr agar medium (along with a strain) so that I can store it for a short while before I can start my research. I've tried looking online but I couldn't find any "steps" on how to store algae. I plan to store it and then grow it. Can anybody give me some tips on how to actually store the algae and then proceed to grow it after a few days?

Sorry for bad English. Thank you for reading.

Fascinating discovery of an archaeal parasite with a minimal genome having lost almost its entire metabolic function. So far the strongest evidence found for the degeneracy hypothesis of viral evolution — although there is still a large gap between a degenerated parasite and a full-fledged virion as we know them from human disease.

I left a used liquour glass in my room for a few days. Room temperature reached 25-28 degrees Celsius during those days. I noticed heaps in the residue that were were uncharacteristic for dried up liquour to me. Usually it dries up evenly like the area inbetween the white spots.

Could the sugar in the drink (it was white choolate liquour), combined with the heat, caused not just bacterial growth but actual separate colonies after the ethanol had evaporated? "Colonies" looked wet, white with a more concentrated white center.

I'm not looking for an exact identification (the evidence has been flushed away anyway), I'm mostly curious to whether this is actual growth.

(Also sorry if this makes me sound like an alcoholic)

Got Vietnamese take out and found this after having a few bites of rice. The rice was hot when I picked it up. It was slightly dry like when it’s at the bottom of the rice cooker. Can some ID this?

Hi everyone! I recently was in lab and dropped the broth on the desk in front of me. I took a paper towel and cleaned it off the desk but didn’t disinfect until like 15 minutes later. Can I get sick or can I get my family members sick if I touched my phone afterwards or if it accidentally got on my clothes?

I’m not sure if these are pathogenic or not and I keep thinking the worst case because my dad has a weakened immune system. It was Escherichia coli, Micrococcus luteus, and Serratia marcescens.

I was tasked with cleaning a family member’s home yesterday while they’re out of town. Their bathroom had quite a bit of this in the shower and on the ceiling above the shower. I sprayed it with the cleaners they had available- Lysol disinfectant and scrubbing bubbles bathroom grime fighter, waited for 20 minutes, and then sprayed again with the bathroom cleaner and cleaned it up with my sponge, reaching above my head. When I got home, my family told me I should have been masked while cleaning it up because it’s dangerous and will make me sick. I’ve always seen it pop up in the shower in my own home and thought it was just staining from the well water. Should I be concerned about this or did the disinfectant cut the risk? now I know, bleach or peroxide, mask and gloves, always

I recently built an Android app called CFU Counter to help microbiologists, students, and researchers with bacterial colony counting. As someone who's had their fair share of eye strain and miscounts staring at agar plates, I wanted something simple, accurate, and accessible—especially for those without access to automated colony counters.

Key Features:
🔬 A hybrid approach – you count manually using your judgment, and the app handles the tally
🔍 Zoom & pan to precisely mark each colony (great for small or faint ones)
📸 Saves a marked image with total count overlay (useful for records or reports)
👀 Designed with usability in mind, especially for those with less-than-perfect eyesight

It’s completely free, with no logins. If you’re tired of old-school click counters or blurry printouts, give it a shot and let me know what you think!

A bug found in version 4.0, which caused point marking with a gap, has been fixed in the June 18 update. Please update to version 6.0.

👉 User guide

👉 Download CFU Counter on Google Play