Science communication
One of my hobbies is translating complex scientific concepts into cute stories or poetic forms, below are some poems I wrote about host-associated microbes. If you share the same interest or you’d like an accessible version of your research, feel free to get in touch!
The generalist’s lament
(This is a poetic form of generalist microbes’ lifestyle)
Never did I think to land here, cold and dark, where hunger bites,
I yearn for the warm, nutritious, living ground,
The human sanctuary, that lord of endless lights—
I miss the safety of the host from which I was unbound,
By the brutal command of fate’s relentless shedding.
Who now will pick me up? I promise I will not strike.
I scan the soil and air, assessing every fleeting change.
I must adapt, for life is nothing but kinetic range.
Let me adjust and repair, and now I am renewed.
But wait—a host appears! I’m lifted, picked up fast.
Forgive the honest lie: this shift has made me sharp and bold.
My previous mild nature could not possibly last;
You never know which new defense the new environment will unfold.
I pledge my hard survival; I labor to adjust to you,
My unexpected lord. You promise not to shed?
What? Unbound again? Into the cold, dark world I’m thrown anew?
Then, in the next life, let me be obligate instead.
No more the chaos of the shed, no more the generalist’s fate.
Oh, Host, I offer you my entire, perfect genome,
To trade this endless transit for the single, mighty gate:
My highest adaptation, for a permanent, singular home.
I yearn for the warm, nutritious, living ground,
The human sanctuary, that lord of endless lights—
I miss the safety of the host from which I was unbound,
By the brutal command of fate’s relentless shedding.
Who now will pick me up? I promise I will not strike.
I scan the soil and air, assessing every fleeting change.
I must adapt, for life is nothing but kinetic range.
Let me adjust and repair, and now I am renewed.
But wait—a host appears! I’m lifted, picked up fast.
Forgive the honest lie: this shift has made me sharp and bold.
My previous mild nature could not possibly last;
You never know which new defense the new environment will unfold.
I pledge my hard survival; I labor to adjust to you,
My unexpected lord. You promise not to shed?
What? Unbound again? Into the cold, dark world I’m thrown anew?
Then, in the next life, let me be obligate instead.
No more the chaos of the shed, no more the generalist’s fate.
Oh, Host, I offer you my entire, perfect genome,
To trade this endless transit for the single, mighty gate:
My highest adaptation, for a permanent, singular home.
The myth of persistent microbes
The marriage of myth demands an unchanging vow:
A promise of deep loyalty until death parts.
So too, within our bodies, do some microbes somehow
Maintain their faithful presence, within our beating hearts.
They live, they shift, they bend, but fiercely they persist.
They persist when we change diet, or alter every pace;
They cling when new companions enter on our wrist;
A quiet, unseen stability in a transient space.
Shall we praise their constancy, their unwavering, hidden stay?
Or do they simply hold the most advantageous ground?
Should we expel them, denying their essential utility,
When their ancient, adapted function must aways be profound?
What signatures do they carry,
And are they one across us all?
The key to health’s equation remains the silent test:
What is the cost of permanence, and where does the edge fall?
A promise of deep loyalty until death parts.
So too, within our bodies, do some microbes somehow
Maintain their faithful presence, within our beating hearts.
They live, they shift, they bend, but fiercely they persist.
They persist when we change diet, or alter every pace;
They cling when new companions enter on our wrist;
A quiet, unseen stability in a transient space.
Shall we praise their constancy, their unwavering, hidden stay?
Or do they simply hold the most advantageous ground?
Should we expel them, denying their essential utility,
When their ancient, adapted function must aways be profound?
What signatures do they carry,
And are they one across us all?
The key to health’s equation remains the silent test:
What is the cost of permanence, and where does the edge fall?
Variation: the measure of potential and risk
Variation is intrinsic, the spark of every soul,
A deep, inherent signature that labels us unique.
And uniqueness, we surrender, is the meaning of the whole.
Within the human kingdom, a microbial world is meek,
Yet variable. We crave the stillness, we plead for the stable hold,
But is stability ever fully kind?
We turn to flexibility, a story to be told,
Though flexibility may leave safe tipping points behind.
They live, they shift, they change with every passing hour,
By food and time, and immunity’s unseen hand;
Will the communities mend, or simply disappear?
Is recovery the promise, or just oscillation in its place?
Underneath the chaos, there is potential wide,
A deep and vital engine that offers defense and might.
But oh, the sudden fracture where all order starts to slide,
When variation spills beyond the edges of the light.
The beneficial fade, they tear and leave a hollow space,
An invitation whispered to a parasite unseen.
And then the darkness settles, replacing health and grace,
Disease can happen, where stable life had been.
Variation is a force, so vital and profound,
With both the risk of ruin and the promise to create.
A double-edged existence upon this common ground.
A deep, inherent signature that labels us unique.
And uniqueness, we surrender, is the meaning of the whole.
Within the human kingdom, a microbial world is meek,
Yet variable. We crave the stillness, we plead for the stable hold,
But is stability ever fully kind?
We turn to flexibility, a story to be told,
Though flexibility may leave safe tipping points behind.
They live, they shift, they change with every passing hour,
By food and time, and immunity’s unseen hand;
Will the communities mend, or simply disappear?
Is recovery the promise, or just oscillation in its place?
Underneath the chaos, there is potential wide,
A deep and vital engine that offers defense and might.
But oh, the sudden fracture where all order starts to slide,
When variation spills beyond the edges of the light.
The beneficial fade, they tear and leave a hollow space,
An invitation whispered to a parasite unseen.
And then the darkness settles, replacing health and grace,
Disease can happen, where stable life had been.
Variation is a force, so vital and profound,
With both the risk of ruin and the promise to create.
A double-edged existence upon this common ground.
Shifting along the mutualism-parasitism continuum
The only constant law in this vast, wet kingdom,
Is the fierce, indifferent nature of the change itself.
I never dreamt I’d turn against your sanctum,
My Lord, when first I claimed my portion of your wealth.
I lived then by the ancient, commensal pact—
A quiet tenant, helping you digest what you ingest,
And I, receiving nourishment, made sure my needs were met.
The immune citadel may fence my roaming sphere,
Yet I was wholly content to shelter in your grace.
But peace is a fragile bond when peril hovers near;
Then came the seismic rupture, the ecosystem’s shift,
My fellow residents were scattered, broken, or consumed.
The balance was undone, a necessary gift:
I must now seize the bounty to escape the void’s ill-doomed.
From this disorder, self-interest takes its root;
The contract shatters, giving way to necessary strife.
I climb the sharp biological gradient for my loot—
I flourish in your waning, demanding more from life.
I feel the strange remorse, yet my expansion is now assured;
I rule this tiny, conquering, thriving colony—
Your failing pulse, my Lord, is a price I have endured.
Do not mistake this sudden shift for treachery,
This is the brilliant, amoral logic of the cell.
For I may shift once more and be your friend, or not. Who can tell?
Is the fierce, indifferent nature of the change itself.
I never dreamt I’d turn against your sanctum,
My Lord, when first I claimed my portion of your wealth.
I lived then by the ancient, commensal pact—
A quiet tenant, helping you digest what you ingest,
And I, receiving nourishment, made sure my needs were met.
The immune citadel may fence my roaming sphere,
Yet I was wholly content to shelter in your grace.
But peace is a fragile bond when peril hovers near;
Then came the seismic rupture, the ecosystem’s shift,
My fellow residents were scattered, broken, or consumed.
The balance was undone, a necessary gift:
I must now seize the bounty to escape the void’s ill-doomed.
From this disorder, self-interest takes its root;
The contract shatters, giving way to necessary strife.
I climb the sharp biological gradient for my loot—
I flourish in your waning, demanding more from life.
I feel the strange remorse, yet my expansion is now assured;
I rule this tiny, conquering, thriving colony—
Your failing pulse, my Lord, is a price I have endured.
Do not mistake this sudden shift for treachery,
This is the brilliant, amoral logic of the cell.
For I may shift once more and be your friend, or not. Who can tell?
The Cheater’s Calculus
(This is about cooperation and cheating in a microbial community)
I never thought the gamble would fail,
A low, conspiratorial laugh I send on the breeze—
Can you believe I draw the public good, without labor or fee?
I steal the communal wealth, and never once derail.
Do not judge the ethics of my small design,
You would perform the same cheater’s calculus if you were I:
Imagine a world where fitness is only mine,
Maximizing every gain beneath a costless sky.
I would choose this perfect theft a thousand times,
A singular existence of pure, unburdened resource.
But wait—a sudden barrier cuts across my climbs!
Have they found the geometry to interrupt my course?
A spatial lock! Now I am held and contained by the wall,
And cannot reach the source of the sweet, delicious yield.
They are insidious, aren’t they? To engineer my fall…
You say I am the deceitful one upon this field?
Silence! I am merely social, pursuing my own might.
Why judge a tiny microbe by a human, rigid code?
If we are all ambitious, seeking the core of light,
Then my simple cheater’s strategy is just the established road.
A low, conspiratorial laugh I send on the breeze—
Can you believe I draw the public good, without labor or fee?
I steal the communal wealth, and never once derail.
Do not judge the ethics of my small design,
You would perform the same cheater’s calculus if you were I:
Imagine a world where fitness is only mine,
Maximizing every gain beneath a costless sky.
I would choose this perfect theft a thousand times,
A singular existence of pure, unburdened resource.
But wait—a sudden barrier cuts across my climbs!
Have they found the geometry to interrupt my course?
A spatial lock! Now I am held and contained by the wall,
And cannot reach the source of the sweet, delicious yield.
They are insidious, aren’t they? To engineer my fall…
You say I am the deceitful one upon this field?
Silence! I am merely social, pursuing my own might.
Why judge a tiny microbe by a human, rigid code?
If we are all ambitious, seeking the core of light,
Then my simple cheater’s strategy is just the established road.