5,519 results
- Tech
Microbial Moxie
Microbial fuel cells, which take advantage of the fact that some microbes generate electricity when they break down organic matter, could one day power remote sensors, wastewater-treatment plants, and portable devices.
- Tech
Is Anybody out There?
To speed the search for extraterrestrial life, researchers are using extreme conditions on Earth to develop a flotilla of detection devices to tease out signs of life in unlikely places.
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Gold-Metal Results: Compounds block immune proteins
Metals such as platinum and gold keep certain proteins from stimulating the body's immune response.
- Health & Medicine
Ready-to-eat spinach bears tough microbes
Bagged spinach may contain a significant number of bacteria, many of which are resistant to several antibiotics.
- Health & Medicine
Us against Them
New antibiotics may be valuable weapons in the fight against tougher bacteria.
- Health & Medicine
Alcohol increases bacterium’s virulence
Drinking alcohol can increase the ability of one type of bacteria to cause disease.
- Humans
Letters from the February 11, 2006, issue of Science News
Preventive measure? Regarding “Rare but Fatal Outcome: Four deaths may trace to abortion pill” (SN: 12/3/05, p. 358), would it be possible for an antibiotic to be included with the RU-486 package to prevent a Clostridium sordellii infection? Like millions of other people, I have to take an antibiotic prior to dental procedures to prevent […]
- Health & Medicine
Lyme microbe forms convenient bond with tick protein
The bacterium that causes Lyme disease commandeers a gene in the deer tick, inducing overproduction of a salivary protein that the bacterium uses to escape immune detection once it's inside a mammal.
- Health & Medicine
Protecting People from a Terrifying Toxin: Vaccine stimulates immune response against ricin
In its first test in people, a vaccine against the toxin ricin appears safe and generates antibodies that are expected to be protective against the potential bioterrorism agent.
- Health & Medicine
Flora Horror
A diarrhea-causing bacterium has developed new resistance to a widely used class of antibiotics and has recently become more transmissible and more deadly.
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Grow in the Dark: Bottom-dwelling bacterium survives on geothermal glow
A newly described species of photosynthetic microorganism uses light from hydrothermal vents in the deep sea to power its metabolism, making it the first such organism to use a light source other than the sun.
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Milky seas clarified
With the help of satellites, scientists have obtained the first-ever photos of an expanse of seawater filled with bioluminescent bacteria.
