The Lab Talks

December is probably the cosiest month of the year. We come together more often with friends and family to feel warm and connected. And it’s not just people, microbes also benefit from bonding and working together. Have you ever wondered what microbial communities look like?

Living in groups can protect microbes from enemies, help them share resources, and even enable collective behaviour such as hunting in packs. And it doesn’t stop there. Group formation eventually led to one of the most important steps in the evolution of life on Earth: the rise of multicellular life.

This month, let’s come together to learn from the lab technician how social behaviour in microbes works and how it ultimately made our own existence possible.