This week Cutting the Curd gets gets cut down to size, or rather gets shrunk, with the help of microbiologist Rachel Dutton who is a fellow at FAS Center of Systems Biology. There she is putting cheese under the microscope and using the simplified, experimentally tractable microbial ecosystems found growing on the surface of cheeses as models for the behavior of microbes in complex communities. These communities, and their rich assembly of metabolic capacities, contribute much of the diversity in flavors, smells, and textures of the hundreds of different varieties of cheeses. But don't worry if this all sounds over your head Anne Saxelby is there to guide you through world of cheese big and small. This episode is sponsored by Fairway Market.

This week on We Dig Plants Carmen Devito and Alice Marcus Krieg continue their linguistic exploration of botanical Latin with the help of friend and culinary horticulturist Scott D. Appell. Learn what the different Latin endings from -icus to -ens mean in term of location, color, discoverer and how Carl Linneaus developed and compiled the taxonomic classification for botanists. Later on, learn how the use of DNA testing is remapping classical botanical taxonomy as we know it.

We Dig Fungus! On today's episode of We Dig Plants, Alice Marcus Krieg and Carmen Devito are joined by Eugenia Bone, author of Mycophilia. Tune into this episode to hear Eugenia talk about the similarities between fungi and animals, and the pervasiveness of fungi in our ecosystem. Learn how plants often depend on fungi for nutrients through symbiosis! How have fungal infections of food supplies caused mass hysteria in the past? Also, did you know that most plants are inhabited by fungi? Learn more about mycology on this week's installment of We Dig Plants! This program has been brought to you by Fairway Market.

"You have more in common with a mushroom than the bacteria in your own gut." [9:35]

"There are no terrestrial plants without fungi. The two have been symbiotic for as far back as archeological study." [18:15]

-- Eugenia Bone on We Dig Plants