Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with microbes

Drugs are bad, mmmkay?

inoculatedcities — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:29:27 -0800

Recommend an excellent, comprehensive book on the history of antibiotics? After burning through Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson's Napoleon's Buttons and Michael Pollard's The Botany of Desire I've decided to seek out books with a similar, historical approach to other interesting molecules.

In particular, I'd love to read a comprehensive history of antibiotics (especially a technical one that's not aimed at lay audiences/bestseller lists like the admittedly still quite good books I mentioned above). I know Thomas Hager's The Demon Under the Microscope is a popular book that chronicles the discovery and history of sulfonamides, but I'm looking for something that covers the whole spectrum of modern antibiotics. Any recommendations would be most appreciated.

The germs crawl in, the germs crawl out...

Bardolph — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:44:47 -0800

Kid's due this spring, and we've amassed huge piles of used baby gear. What are some safe disinfecting procedures that will reliably rid all this stuff of any lurking mold, bacteria AND viruses? I'm not a germophobe or anything, and I understand and believe the hygiene hypothesis-- but with all the stuff in the news recently about what happens When Microbes Attack (black mold! obesity viruses!), I'd at least like the kiddie to start out with a blank slate, flora-wise, instead of Freecycle's Best premium microorganism assortment. Criteria for disinfection procedures: must be

ultimately baby-safe (so, not necessarily completely natural or nontoxic, but should be rinsable or removable to leave a safe end product)
as un-damaging as possible to the stuff itself (won't be easy with fabric cushioning/other mixed-material stuff, I know), and unlikely to break down plastics to yield toxic byproducts
effective against molds, bacteria, viruses, and (ideally) bacterial spores.

My current idea is to start by dousing everything with a mild bleach solution to clear the field, then follow up with Dr. Bronner's Tea Tree Soap and lots of baking in the sun to remove residual chlorine. I was also considering just using lots and lots of 95% ethanol, but wasn't sure whether it'd do much against viruses and molds. Would love to hear critiques and/or better suggestions for how to accomplish this!

Is it ok to put still-warm food in the fridge or freezer?

antifuse — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 02:44:20 -0800

Is it ok to put still-warm leftovers in the fridge or freezer? My girlfriend and I constantly disagree about this. She was always told, growing up, that you have to wait until recently-cooked food has cooled to room temperature before you can put it in the fridge. If you don't, she says, bacteria will grow on it much more easily and you will get sick.

I've ALWAYS just put the warm leftovers right into the fridge/freezer, and never had any problems with it, and in fact I find that the "leaving it till it cools down" often leads to food forgotten on the counter overnight, which in my opinion would be more likely to lead to spoilage. (Sweet mother of god that was a horrible runon sentence!)

My google-fu has led to little in the way of answers, does anybody have any concrete facts one way or the other? As far as I'm concerned, it just seems like common sense that bacteria is less likely (or at worst, just as likely) to grow on warm-food-in-the-cold-fridge as it is in warm-food-on-the-kitchen-counter. My girlfriend refuses to believe me, as it was SO ingrained into her brain in a child.

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