Next week the paperback edition of my book Microcosm: E. Coli and the New Science of Life will be published. In the book I approach E. coli as a microscopic oracle that can reveal great secrets about how life in general works. This is not actually a rhetorical stretch; over the past century scientists have put a spectacular amount of work into understanding this bug. And, as I write in the book, E. coli continues to offer surprises. In celebration of the arrival of the paperback Microcosm, I’m going to take a look at some fresh-out-of-the-oven research on E. coli that may change the way you think about life as a whole.

There’s no better way to kick off Microcosm