Microbes
- Health & Medicine
Can probiotics actually curb sugar cravings?
Some companies claim that taking beneficial bacteria can reduce the desire for sugar. But the evidence comes from mice, not people.
- Life
Toxin-gobbling bacteria may live on poison dart frog skin
Toxins on poison dart frog skin mold the skin's microbial community, boosting species variety and potentially even feeding some daredevil bacteria.
- Plants
Carnivorous plants eat faster with a fungal friend
Insects stuck in sundew plants’ sticky secretions suffocate and die before being subjected to a medley of digestive enzymes.
- Microbes
This amoeba eats prey like owls do
Meet the ‘owl slime’ amoeba, which drains its prey and spits out the shell.
- Life
This biophysicist’s work could one day let doctors control immune cells
The Stanford biophysicist thinks that understanding the mechanics of cell movement could allow scientists to manipulate immune cells.
- Health & Medicine
HIV and illicit drugs are a bad mix. This scientist found an unexpected reason why
The neuroscientist considers themself an outsider, which allows them to embrace people who have been marginalized, including people who have HIV.
- Microbes
Some bacteria in your mouth can divide into as many as 14 cells at once
The filamentous bacterium Corynebacterium matruchotii has a unique reproductive strategy that might allow it to claim territory quickly.
- Neuroscience
Some healthy fish have bacteria in their brains
Animals including mammals usually protect their brains from infiltrating microbes that can cause disease. But some fish seem to do just fine.
- Microbes
A fluffy, orange fungus could transform food waste into tasty dishes
The fungus thrives on everything from soy pulp to bland custards, turning them into digestible foods with a surprisingly pleasant flavor.
- Microbes
More than 100 bacteria species can flourish in microwave ovens
Swabs of 30 microwave ovens in different settings identified over 100 bacterial species, some of which could be pathogenic or cause food-borne disease.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, antibiotic resistant bacteria became a problem outside hospitals
Infections from drug-resistant bacteria have skyrocketed over the last 50 years. Now, new technologies could help doctors save lives.
- Health & Medicine
Getting drugs into the brain is hard. Maybe a parasite can do the job
Researchers want to harness the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis to ferry drugs, but some question if the risks can be eliminated.
