An update of our LA Times piece, with thanks to Terry Tang, kimberly kindy, Dr. Channah Rock, @manan73, and Sarah Allard. We stand by our main point that food safety will improve when we all buy into it, as our society did a century ago. tinyurl.com/uusbhyy

Our lab’s modest foray into the Global Virome Project. An approach to explore ecological diversification within virus species. We argue that virus lineages within a species that prefer different hosts may differ in likelihood to spillover to humans. tinyurl.com/vbx9e9c

Adding to the Global Virome Project below the species level—exploring ecological diversity within West Nile Virus biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

Our piece in the Conversation on how the fate of the novel coronavirus may depend on upward and downward changes in its transmissibility (R0), owing to the virus’s evolution and behavioral and technological changes. With examples from Ebola and SARS. tinyurl.com/vpflqf9

Wow, microbiology in a Burger King ad! washingtonpost.com/business/2020/…

Biogeography of American Northwest Hot Spring A/B′-Lineage Synechococcus Populations. This paper is dedicated to the memory of Richard W. Castenholz, a hot spring microbiology pioneer, and a great guy! frontiersin.org/article/10.338…

How to talk to your friends about social distancing when they’re going to bars . In which yours truly admits to being old, and tries to be a sensitive soul while giving good advice. thelily.com/how-to-talk-to…

My interview with The Wesleyan Argus on ethics of fighting infection and updating Socialism of the Microbe. Originally, it was investing to treat/prevent infections of others locally. Now, it’s fighting infections worldwide plus protecting the environment. tinyurl.com/wljmevj

In hope that with planning and organization (and exhaustive testing and isolating when necessary), we can safely reopen our campuses in the fall. nytimes.com/2020/04/26/opi… via ⁦New York Times Opinion⁩

This is so important. I hope you'll watch it. Thanks! Fred

As a (non-native) New Englander, I really loved this piece! A little New England nostalgia, a little Covid.... Thank you!

Nice piece on spread of the successful mutation in the Spike protein in SARS-CoV-2. Looks to be a sweep within one global, ecologically homogeneous population of the virus. Will there be ecological diversification of the virus according to our behavior? washingtonpost.com/science/2020/0…

As a lover of guacamole and all things avocado, I'll share this homage and biological history of the once-nearly-extinct avocado theconversation.com/love-avocados-…

Great article on how to reopen schools. “Our sense of responsibility toward children — at the very least, to protect them from … poor decision making of adults who allow deadly infections to spiral out of control — is core to our humanity.” Marc Lipsitch tinyurl.com/y25vheoj

Opening for Asst Prof in Cell/Dev Biology at Wesleyan University. Wesleyan Biology is a congenial and stimulating department with great opportunities for building a career in research and teaching. I should know—I’ve been a happy camper here for 35 years! careers.wesleyan.edu/postings/7427

It’s regular federal employees working with integrity who saved the country, not the prissy idea that Congress would do the right thing. I extend Wu’s Tim Wu message beyond the feds to all working with integrity to better the country and the world. tinyurl.com/yyo6yb2b

For years in my Global Change & Infectious Disease course, I’ve given extra credit on the op-ed assignment to students who could get their essays published. Record numbers this year! Nothing like living through a pandemic to give students urgency about communicating their ideas.

My PhD student Fatai Olabemiwo and our undergrads have published our first paper in plastic remediation microbiology. Here's access till Dec 13: authors.elsevier.com/a/1hzhDB8ccyhQ9