Natural Science Forum / Biology / Microbiology / February 2005

I have been persuing a degree in Electrical Engineering. Lately I have been
very frustrated and have decided that engineering may not be for me after
all. I am seriously considering changing my major to Biology. All of my math
and sciences I was required to take for engineering ...

Hey guys,
Just had a quick question as to whether anyone has any experience with
digital microscopes. I have recently seen small USB microscopes which
plug straight into the computer which are actually rather cheap, circa

Hello, I have a few questions about preparing agar for fungal and
bacterial growth. I'm planning on growing fungi on the agar with
bacteria, however, I want to keep the bacterial populations relatively
low. I read somewhere that lowering the pH of the medium would suffice

I am looking for a quick method for quantifying yeast viability after
exposure to an inhibitory agent. I have been using CFU counting on YPD
agar plates. This takes a minimum of 48 hours for the results.
Are there any quicker alternatives for checking yeast viability

Hi out there!
I have a calculation problem.
I´m working with a virus of 8440bp genome size. Can anybody tell me,
how much a single copy is in weight? If i´m supposed to use 100 and

why does bacteria not grow in jam
can some one help me with this

has anyone done conclusive medical research on the benefits of cannibis
use for neurological diseases and when will the trials be complete, and
how long after that will it take to be prescribable

Hi colleagues!
I`m searching for an enzyme, which is degradating only single stranded
DNA at 46°C. Exonuclease I has the right function, but it`s optimum is
at 37°C- I don`t know if it is also working at 46°C or we will need an

When eaten, some algae are toxic. If burned, would the smoke
contain these toxins, or would they be destroyed by the combustion.
The reason I ask, is that algae grows extremely fast, and can be
pressed into pills--why not pellets or logs for a fireplace or stove.

Flu, aids and ebola? or something else?

I wonder if the virus can sing and if yes, how can I record it ?

I was wondering about why bacteria would have superantigens. I mean all
they really do is lead to a huge host immune response (bind to side of
the TC cell and MHC II [of APC] complex). But doesn't that in the end
hurt a bacteria more than help it? So why have a superantigen?

guys, do u know where ican get microbiological media compositions??

Over the past four years, more than 40 of the world's top
microbiologists -  many of them working in the field of bio-weapons -
have met "untimely deaths.
Details at: http://www.halturnershow.com/DeadBioExperts.html

Dear group,
I am not sure if this is an apropiate group for my questions, so I
appologise if I am asking them at the wrong spot. In addition, I am a
non-native speaker of English and a lay person, although I get UTIs on a