Microbes

  1. Chemistry

    Liquid salts break through armored bacteria on skin

    Compounds called ionic liquids can penetrate bacterial biofilms on skin to deliver antibiotics to potentially life-threatening infections.

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  2. Oceans

    Viruses might tame some algal blooms

    The rapid demise of a giant, carbon-spewing algal bloom points to the influence of viral wranglers.

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  3. Ecosystems

    Lake under Antarctic ice bursts with life

    Abundant microbes thrive in subglacial lakes deep under the Antarctic ice sheet.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Hepatitis E widespread among English blood donors

    Screening of 225,000 blood donations reveals a high prevalence of the hepatitis E virus.

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  5. Life

    Bacteria’s bodies do whirlies to help them swim

    Kidney-shaped Caulobacter crescentus bacteria swim with both their corkscrew propellers called flagella and their bodies, scientists say.

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  6. Microbes

    Gut microbes help packrats eat poison

    Antiobiotics and fecal transplants in desert woodrats shown that gut microbes can help plant-eaters metabolize toxins.

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  7. Microbes

    Front doors carry ‘thin patina’ of poop bacteria

    A new map shows that Americans’ front door frames are coated in gut-dwelling microbes.

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  8. Life

    One lichen is actually 126 species and counting

    One supposedly well-known tropical lichen could really be several hundred kinds.

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  9. Microbes

    The most personal data on your phone is your microbiome

    Phones carry more than your contacts and messages. They’ve got your microbiome too.

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  10. Life

    Bacteria’s tail spins make water droplets swirl

    When bacteria band together, they can turn a fairly tame drop of water into a swirling vortex.

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  11. Environment

    Triclosan may spoil wastewater treatment

    Common antimicrobial could make microbes more drug resistant and less efficient at breaking down sewage sludge in municipal treatment plants.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Ulcer microbe changes quickly to avoid immune attack

    During the initial weeks of infection, Helicobacter pylori, the bacterium that causes stomach ulcers, mutates at a high rate, apparently to evade the body’s defenses.

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