[Thomas Mann and the infectious diseases in the first half of 20th. century. Second part: Tuberculosis, cholera and transplants].

Surely Thomas Mann is today a forgotten writer, with only a little and selected group of readers between our young colleagues. However, perhaps could be useful for the others some knowledge about his vision of the infectious diseases in the first half of the twentieth century, when he wrote the novels here reviewed. Typhoid fever, meningitis, syphilis, tuberculosis and cholera are present in Mann's thematic from Buddenbrooks till Doktor Faustus, always with a personal focus, more on spirit -the will to live- rather than flesh and bones.

[Thomas Mann and infectious diseases in the first half of the 20th century. Part I: Typhoid fever, meningitis and syphilis].

Surely, Thomas Mann is today a forgotten writer, with only a little and precious group of readers between our young colleagues. However, perhaps could be useful for the others some knowledge about his vision of the infectious diseases in the first half of the twentieth century, when he wrote the novels here reviewed. Typhoid fever, meningitis, tuberculosis, syphilis and cholera are present in Mann's thematic from Buddenbrooks till Doktor Faustus, always with a personal focus, more on spirit -the will to live - rather than on flesh and bones… or bacteria.

[Real time history of 21st century bacteria: giants and martians].

We denominate "21st century bacteria" two types of strange and amazing creatures from the kingdom Protista, discovered between the last years of the twentieth and the present days: the giant bacteria and those with a possible Martian origin. Searching for them, bold investigators have travelled to distant and hostile lands, desolate places and deep waters, performing a kind of investigation that we only can describe as "investigation-adventure". This paper presents expeditions to the Red Sea, fishing the Epulopiscium; to Lake Mono, searching a bacteria able to growth with arsenic; to the Antarctic Circle, finding a meteorite with petrified alien microorganisms; and… to the quiet laboratory, a not less dangerous place.

[The way of the rubber].

Investigations first by Markham, and then by Spruce, performed in the middle of multiple risks, in the deep of dense jungle, through the wild rivers and facing up natives many times hostile, brought the knowledge of the life cycle of Hevea brasiliensis, the rubber's tree, necessary for take its seeds to Asia, its adaptation to this continent and its culture at industrial level. Undoubtedly these men were the heroes of this history, but they were wise, modest and quite people, so the glory was for an entrepreneur decided and of scare scruples, like Wickham. And Brazil, as a good Latin American nation, sinned of naivety, improvidence and negligence, allowing itself the lost of an unimaginable fortune: the monopoly of the rubber.