Microbes
- 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.
- Oceans
Viruses might tame some algal blooms
The rapid demise of a giant, carbon-spewing algal bloom points to the influence of viral wranglers.
- Ecosystems
Lake under Antarctic ice bursts with life
Abundant microbes thrive in subglacial lakes deep under the Antarctic ice sheet.
- Health & Medicine
Hepatitis E widespread among English blood donors
Screening of 225,000 blood donations reveals a high prevalence of the hepatitis E virus.
- 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.
- Microbes
Gut microbes help packrats eat poison
Antiobiotics and fecal transplants in desert woodrats shown that gut microbes can help plant-eaters metabolize toxins.
- Microbes
Front doors carry ‘thin patina’ of poop bacteria
A new map shows that Americans’ front door frames are coated in gut-dwelling microbes.
- Life
One lichen is actually 126 species and counting
One supposedly well-known tropical lichen could really be several hundred kinds.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
