Every day on Medium there are at least a dozen articles with a title similar to this one! And then there’s a subheading with X number of things you can do to “make it so, #1”.

Or there’s a bunch of reasons listing why you have failed and shouldn’t be doing those things anymore. Again, usually with writing techniques or methods, you should use instead.

Poppycock!

Let’s unpack the whole “going viral” thing, shall we?

First, we need to actually define what “going viral” means.

Hmm, that’s not easy.

Suppose you’ve been writing for a while and the most number…

Elephants are one of those animals we all love!

If you’re like me, probably the only contact you’ve had with elephants is seeing them on TV or feeding them peanuts in your local zoo. Or seeing them in a passing circus. That’s what I did when I was a kid!

But how about when they’re in their natural habitat?

You gotta know that any animal as large as an elephant is going to have some pretty major impacts on the habitat they live in! Both positive and negative.

If you’re a plant and an elephant decides you’re its bed for…

When was the last time you gave even the slightest thought to all the microorganisms that normally live on or inside your body?! It’s not something I start my day with!

This is not a topic we generally think about or talk about in conversations with our friends or family. And there are good reasons for that! It’s kinda icky.

When we’re healthy and everything is going along nicely, why think about bugs that live inside us that aren’t even making us sick?!

But what if I told you that you could be even healthier and get sick less often…

Hello, Peter!

Thank you for your warm compliments! Made my day, you did! I might steal that first sentence for a testimonial on my website! With your permission, of course.

I'd like to answer your questions and respond to your comments. First, if you'd like to know more about my background, check out my website: https://www.biology4everyone.com/about/

That will give you a good bit of info! Bottom line: yes, I have a Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology and am now semi-retired. …

Investigating gut microbiomes is all the rage these days, and for good reasons.

Finding out what organisms we have in our gut microbiome can tell us a lot about our health. And with a few simple strategies, we can promote the ones that help us become even more healthy.

In former decades, determining the trillions of microbes in our microbiome was a daunting task. But as DNA sequencing methods become streamlined, more economical, and databases fill up with the genomes of thousands of microorganisms, it has become more routine.

And it’s pretty simple.

The investigator takes a small sample from…

I love it when I come across a book that sensitively and intelligently unpacks an important biological topic.

And seaweeds are just such a topic.

“What?” I can hear you saying. “Why would I care about seaweed?!”

“When I go to the beach I often have to wade through the slippery stuff to get to the good swimming area. And it tangles up my legs and arms. We just need to get rid of most of it!”

Hmmm, I see we have some serious re-education to do here 😉

Here’s why you should care about seaweeds.

They’re important to coastal…