Microbiology

The Fourth Edition has two new themes—the human gut microbiome and Antarctic microbiology—that highlight exciting discoveries in two key areas of the discipline (medical and ecological microbiology). The two themes are called out throughout each chapter with marginal icons so they're easy to find, talk about, and teach. New chapter openers feature brief interviews with mircobiologists about their recently published work that provide up-to-date introductions to the subject of each chapter. Special topic boxes, many updated for the Fourth Edition, focus on the experimental details of a recent discovery to show how science is done in, and sometimes outside of, the lab.  

A new Smartwork5 course includes content for every chapter, including review, critical thinking, visual, and animation questions. Smartwork questions include live ebook links, hints, and answer-specific feedback that helps guide students' learning. The open access coursepack includes online assessment, study materials, and a suite of process animations, while the easy-to-use ebook allows students to take notes, annotate, view dynamic animations, and read on- or offline.

Slonczewski and Foster reduced the number of sections per chapter to a maximum of six, helping students to maintain focus on key course concepts. Thought Questions throughout each chapter invite students to think critically and draw connections between concepts. "To Summarize" bulleted lists at the end of every chapter section distill important concepts into brief, memorable statements.  

Process diagrams have been rendered more accessible by reducing the length of the supporting captions and expanding the use of in-figure bubble captions and visually engaging process animations, carefully reviewed by the authors, have been built from art in the text.