See the history of microbiology in nine scenes of gags, burlesque, drollery and song. Produced by Active Cultures, the vernacular theatre of Maryland, Petri Dish Circus is a play based off of the classic non-fiction novel Microbe Hunters by Paul Henry de Kruif. Much like the original book first published in 1926 that describes 12 historical milestones in science, Active Cultures reenacts "the daring-do of Louis Pasteur in his Parisian lab, the Scotch fortitude of Ronald Ross as he travels...

At the University of Tennessee, switchgrass is all the buzz - a plant that's farmer & environment-friendly, and a cheap alternative to high-priced corn for making ethanol. Switchgrass Science is a segment from Partners Video Magazine's latest episode, Fueling America. To view the entire episode visit: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/newsroom/partners/partners.html

Purdue has modified a yeast that breaks down sugars of straw and corn waste for more cost-effective ethanol production. Super Yeast is a segment from Partners Video Magazine's latest episode, Fueling America. To view the entire episode visit: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/newsroom/partners/partners.html

UC-Berkeley is unlocking the chemical power of green algae for clean hydrogen fuel that eliminates air-polluting fossil fuels in its production. Power of Green is a segment from Partners Video Magazine's latest episode, Fueling America. To view the entire episode visit: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/newsroom/partners/partners.html

An ancient global warming episode drastically changed the planet. Life on Earth needed 200,000 years to recover. What we're headed for in the next century could be even bigger.

A quick tip of the week on how to obtain a list of SNPs and data for a gene of interest quickly from the UCSC Table Browser