Talks from the Bio lab desk

The good ol' double agent. Classic espionage. No one likes a two faced person. Especially when the trick is on you. One minute, they are good, the next they are bad. But what about when your worst enemy becomes your greatest hero? A bittersweet feeling? Maybe it's time to get to know about this person, who has been with you, but you haven't known it We’ve all been there, you open the bread bag, ready to make a sandwich, and boom! 💥, there it is. That fuzzy green invader and there you a squeezing your face in disappointment.  Why Mold? Why? 😞...Now it's game over, lunch plans ruined. But here’s the twist…what if I told you that the same type of organism responsible for ruining your toast is also responsible for saving millions of lives? Yep. Mold is that much of a biological double agent. One day it’s trying to take over your leftovers, and the next, it’s being injected into someone to fight off a deadly infection. So, which is it? Is mold friend or foe? Let’s ...

  We tend to think of mold as something we see, a fuzzy patch on bread, a green bloom on old fruit, or the suspicious spots in a damp bathroom. But what if I told you that mold doesn’t need to be seen to be part of your life? In fact, with every breath you take, you're likely inhaling thousands of microscopic mold spores floating in the air around you. Before you run for the search bar in the internet, l et’s unpack what that actually means, and whether you should be worried. 🌫 ️ What Is Mold, Really? Mold is a type of fungus, much like mushrooms or yeast. Unlike mushrooms, that pop up from the ground or yeast that makes bread rise, mold typically spreads through invisible spores . These spores are its version of seeds, but lighter, smaller, and easily airborne. Once released, they drift through the air until they land on a surface with the right conditions, such as, moisture, warmth, and a food source (like bread, wood, or even skin cells). That means mold isn’t just a...

  ...Aaaand action! 🎥🎬 The opening scene. It’s Valentine’s Day. All the adrenaline and rush from the days before bursting in the air. Nothing but the scent of love, wafting through the air into the nostrils. Someone’s brought heart-shaped cookies to school. Someone else baked cupcakes with pink frosting. There's that one friend who went all out with the chocolate-drizzled cinnamon rolls from a fancy bakery.  They're all stacked in lockers, slipped into backpacks, or quietly exchanged behind classrooms with nervous grins and way-too-long eye contact. You have kept that lovely pastry with sweet toppings as a surprise. Fast-forward three days. The romance might still be alive… but the pastries....  ...are starting to rot. 😖😧 You crack open a bag, and boom! A fuzzy green surprise. Is it still love, if it’s moldy? 🤔 Let’s talk about what’s really happening inside that sweet little parcel of affection, and what biology has to say about it. 🧫 A Love Story Gon...

  Ah, frozen pizza. The hero of house parties and late-night study sessions. A quick pop in the oven, and you've got a crispy, cheesy meal that’s almost as good as the fresh kind. But, here's the real question: What happens, when the party is over, and everyone got stuffed too early, and that pizza is shoved in the freezer and forgotten about? Does it turn into a hidden mold paradise when it thaws? And what if it's not alone in that freezer, what if fungi think it’s their junk food too? Let’s dive into the science of fungi and frozen pizza. Spoiler alert : It’s not just about eating pizza, it’s about what happens when the pizza becomes the food. 🍕 Frozen Pizza = Bread with Extra Toppings Okay, let’s break it down: Frozen pizza is basically bread with a party on top. You’ve got: Crust (the bread component) Sauce, cheese, and toppings (the fun additions) So, if bread mold likes bread, what about this glorified pizza bread with extra sauce and che...

  Freezing bread. The classic move when you’ve overbought, under-eaten, or just know you won’t get through the loaf before it goes fuzzy. You chuck it in the freezer, pat yourself on the back, and think: “That’ll stop mold, right?” 😏😀🤔 Well…mostly. But not always. And not forever. Because while freezing can delay mold, it doesn’t actually kill it. Some mold species are more resilient than you’d expect, and they’re playing the long game. Let’s unpack what’s really going on inside that frosty loaf, and what it tells us about the secret survival skills of mold. ❄ ️ First, What Does Freezing Do? Freezing food works by: Halting microbial activity, which means, the day-to-day operations of the microbes to sustain life, which include to reproduce, feed or grow  (yeasts, molds, bacteria), Slowing enzyme reactions that cause spoilage, Preserving moisture and structure (mostly). Temperatures below 0°C don’t support active mold growth. So yes, fr...

  Ever noticed how some breads go moldy faster than others? One week your sandwich loaf’s gone swamp green, but your sourdough sits there untouched like it’s invincible. Or maybe you spotted different mold colors growing on two slices from the same bag. Well, you’re not imagining things. And no, it’s not just your fridge playing tricks on you. Fungi, are picky eaters, and scroll their menu too. Welcome to the fungal fine dining scene, where your bread is the buffet , and every mold species has a favorite dish. Just like we all eat the same food, in different ways, some people like fried food as opposed to boiled food and vice versa etc, for fungi, your bread comes in different compositions, for it's diet. 🍞 Not All Bread Is Created Equal Usually, for fungi to grow, it require moisture (humid or damp environments), a right temperature (20⁰C- 30⁰C), oxygen , optimum pH level (pH 4 - 7) and nutrients (in bread, which include carbohydrates, fats and oils)  However, diffe...