Nick writes:
Hello TWiM,
I was surprised at the end of a recent episode that you said you don’t get emails!
I don’t have anything related to microbiology to share with you, unfortunately, but wanted to drop a note of thanks.
In particular, a thank you to Elio. Your book In The Company of Mushrooms started my conversion from a business/IT person to a hopeful microbiologist. I’ve gone back to school and am almost done with my prereqs to apply for a graduate program in microbiology/mycology, and it has been an absolute blast! I just finished an internship looking at ACE2-independent entry methods for SARS-CoV-2 but that’s more TWiV. Regardless, it has certainly sparked my interest even more.
Part of my interest may be inherent in my genes as my Dad was a certified Master Pastry Chef and did intensive study with French bread-makers, cultivating an inherent love and interest in mycology, not that he knew the word haha. He always said that cooking is an art and baking is a science.
In an effort to not attribute my interests to one parent over another, I feel that I should also give credit to my Mom for encouraging me to think small, literally. She has been pursuing a new hobby in her later years of macro photography. The amount of interesting things that she is able to find in just her back yard, or even just in a square foot, continues to astound me. Small things considered, indeed.
Here’s a link for the curious. https://www.instagram.com/theuniversedoodled/
Overall, thank you all again for the continued education and entertainment.
Sincerely,
Nick
P.S. Sunny and 77F here in DFW, coming just after a week of rainy coldness. This is the golden time of the year after winter cold and before summer heat.
Matt writes:
Hi there!
I was listening to the Carnivorous Vulture Bees TWiM episode and heard Elio mention that someone should look at the pear microbiome. I thought you folks might be interested in a paper my colleagues and I published in 2021: Orchard Management and Landscape Context Mediate the Pear Floral Microbiome.
https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/AEM.00048-21
Thanks for the great shows!
Matt Brousil