Microbes
- Microbes
The secret to icky, sticky bacterial biofilms lies in the microbes’ cellulose
Bacteria use a modified form of cellulose to form sticky networks that can coat various surfaces.
- Microbes
A new gel could help in the fight against deadly, drug-resistant superbugs
An antibacterial ointment breaks down the defenses of drug-resistant microbes such as MRSA in lab tests.
- Microbes
New pill tracks gases through your gut
Swallowing these pill-sized sensors could give new insight into what’s going on in your gut.
- Microbes
These disease-fighting bacteria produce echoes detectable by ultrasound
Ultrasound can help keep tabs on genetically modified bacteria to better fight disease inside the body.
- Materials Science
New 3-D printed materials harness the power of bacteria
The three-dimensional materials contain live bacteria and could generate wound dressings or clean up pollutants.
- Oceans
In the deep ocean, these bacteria play a key role in trapping carbon
Mysterious nitrite-oxidizing bacteria capture more carbon than previously thought and may be the primary engine at the base of the deep ocean’s food web.
- Health & Medicine
Step away from the cookie dough. E. coli outbreaks traced to raw flour
Flour, though low in moisture, can sicken people with E. coli toxins if it is eaten raw.
- Life
Lena Pernas sees parasitic infection as a kind of Hunger Games
In studies of Toxoplasma, parasitologist Lena Pernas has reframed infection as a battle between invader and a cell’s mitochondria.
- Microbes
Now we know how much glacial melting ‘watermelon snow’ can cause
Algae that give snow a red tint are making glacial snow in Alaska melt faster.
- Genetics
The Zika epidemic began long before anyone noticed
Zika spread undetected into Brazil and Florida, a genetic study suggests.
- Climate
Ocean acidification may hamper food web’s nitrogen-fixing heroes
A new look at marine Trichodesmium microbes suggests trouble for nitrogen fixation in an acidifying ocean.
- Life
Origin of photosynthesis may go further back than estimates from 50 years ago
Analyzing ancient rocks has helped push back the date when photosynthetic organisms first emerged by nearly a billion years.
