5,519 results
- Chemistry
Enzymes release caged chemicals
A new controlled-release technology relies on enzymes to unshackle a chemical only when and where it's needed.
- Health & Medicine
Bacteria Can Keep Their Kin in Check
Products containing beneficial bacteria might help people fight the ill effects of some gut microbes in diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome.
- Health & Medicine
Emerging bug pilfers DNA
A virulent bacterium invading U.S. hospitals and the battlefields of the Middle East pilfers its genes from other bacteria.
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Itsy bitsy genome
Researchers have sequenced the smallest genome yet discovered, a string of DNA belonging to a species of bacterium that lives inside sap-eating insects' guts.
- Health & Medicine
Working in a cotton mill has bright side
People who work amid bales of raw cotton are less likely to get lung cancer than are people in the general population, a study of Chinese women indicates. While past research has shown that workers in a cotton mill tend to develop shortness of breath, chronic cough, and other health problems, some scientists also noted […]
- Tech
Microbial Mug Shots: Telltale patterns finger bad bacteria
A sophisticated pattern-recognition technique that borrows from automated face recognition may permit identification of harmful bacteria faster and more cheaply than conventional methods do.
- Plants
Stalking the Green Meat Eaters
Pitcher plants in a New England bog hold little ecosystems in their leaves, and also act as indicators of the bog's ecological health.
- Earth
Traces of Trouble
Scientists and engineers are investigating how to stem the flow of naturally-occurring and synthetic estrogens that, when released from waste water treatment plants and livestock operations, can harm aquatic life.
- Tech
Disappearing Ink
Coming to your tattoo parlor soon: New inks that allow clients to have their designs cleanly erased if embarrassment or regret sets in.
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Pathogen Preference: Infected amoebas flourish in cooling towers
Cooling towers appear to be more effective than natural waters at fostering novel bacterial species that cause illnesses in people.
- Materials Science
Savvy Skins
Researchers are developing new coatings that incorporate multiple functions, offer chemical reactivity, or act in response to stimuli in the environment.
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Hottest Fixer: Undersea-vent microbe sets nitrogen record
A spherical microbe from the weird world of hot-water ocean vents has trumped the nitrogen-processing powers of all organisms previously studied.
