Micropod

Micropod's Nancy Mendoza grabs a few minutes with two of the speakers at the SfAM Winter Meeting at the Royal Society in London. First, Professor James Oliver and his colleague, Dr Craig Baker-Austin, explain the growing threat from Vibrio vulnificus, which is found in oysters. Then Dr Frances Lucy explains how bottom feeding organisms are protecting our recreational waters.

Professor Anne Glover is the Chief Science Advisor to the President of the EC and in this interview she discusses science in Europe, following her passions and the role of communication in science policy. Delegates at the SfAM Spring Meeting tell us about their highlights of the day and we hear a brilliant microbiological joke!

This month's Micropod looks at the possibility of microbial life in space. Dr Louisa Preston talks about extremophiles (or extreme-lovers as she calls them) which live in hostile environments on earth. These places are extremely hot, acidic, cold, alkaline and can be used as potential analogues for other-worldly environments. Then we hear from BBC Horizon star, Dr Lewis Dartnell, who chats about the Mars Curiosity Rover that's due to land on the red planet on 6 August 2012. He tells us about his use of Raman spectroscopy to look for organic molecules and microbes, as well as the ExoMars rover that will fly this instrument to Mars. Look out for more on Astrobiology in the September issue of Microbiologist.

Scientists and science communicators have joined forces to make a beautiful calendar which showcases real women (and men) doing great science. The money raised will make sure girls continue to achieve great things in STEM subjects. We went to the launch party and spoke to some of the team, including Director Heather Williams and TV presenter Gareth Jones. Science - it's for everyone!

A brand new respiratory virus is circulating in the Middle East and of 80 cases, 44 people have died. MERS-CoV, as it has become known, is a coronavirus with close relatives in bats. In this podcast, experts speaking at a recent Public Health England conference talk about what we know so far and the important questions still to answer. We hear from John Watson, head of respiratory diseases at Public Health England; Brian McCloskey, director of global health at Public Health England; Monica Galiano, head of genomic sequencing at Public Health England's Virus Reference Department; and Ab Osterhaus, head of the Virology Department at the Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands.