Science Made Simple: What Is Microbiology?
Microbiology is the study of microorganisms that are usually too small to be visible with the human eye without a microscope. Microorganisms (also known as…
Bacteria News
Just a Few Common Bacteria Gobble Up Most of the Carbon in Soil
Bacterial Carbon Cycling in Soil Is Not a Shared Effort Scientists can capture valuable demographic data about soil microbes with a tool called quantitative stable…
Bacterial Superbug MRSA Arose in Hedgehogs Long Before the Use of Antibiotics Began
Scientists have found evidence that a type of the antibiotic resistant superbug MRSA arose in nature long before the use of antibiotics in humans and…
“Simple” Bacteria Found To Organize in Surprisingly Elaborate Patterns
Genetic mechanism found that enables communities of bacterial cells to organize into surprisingly sophisticated segments, revealing a similarity to how plants and animals develop. Over…
An Enemy Within: Researchers Discover How Pathogens Hide in Tissue
Antibiotics cure many bacterial infections. However, some patients suffer a relapse. A research group at the University of Basel has now discovered why some bacteria…
Fecal Transplant Discovery Could Improve Care for Life-Threatening Infections
Findings suggest way to help patients heal from dangerous C. difficile. New research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine sheds light on why…
MIT Advances Toward “Living Biotherapeutics” To Treat Gastrointestinal Diseases
Chemical engineers created a coating for microbes that could make it easier to deploy the organisms to treat gastrointestinal diseases. The human gut is home…
Researchers Use Nanoparticles To Kill Dangerous Bacteria That Hide Inside Human Cells
Researchers from the University of Southampton, working with colleagues at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), have developed a new technology based on nanoparticles…
Scientists Discover Gut Bacteria in Bees That Can Improve Memory
An international research team has discovered a specific type of gut bacteria in bees that can improve memory. The study, led by scientists from Jiangnan…
Combating Antibiotic Resistance – A Major Global Health Threat
As bacterial infections impervious to drugs rise, so does the need to develop better antibiotics. As long as antibiotics have existed, so too has antibiotic…
Thawing Permafrost Could Release Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria and Undiscovered Viruses
When considering the implications of thawing permafrost, our initial worries are likely to turn to the major issue of methane being released into the atmosphere…
Viruses Are Both the Villains and Heroes of Life As We Know It – Nature’s Powerhouses for Genetic Innovation
Viruses have a bad reputation. They are responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic and a long list of maladies that have plagued humanity since time immemorial….
New Test Determines Antibiotic Resistance in Less Than 90 Minutes
A technique that measures the metabolic activity of bacteria with an electric probe can identify antibiotic resistance in less than 90 minutes, a dramatic improvement…
Syphilis Eludes Immune Attack by Shuffling DNA in a Single Gene
By shuffling DNA in and out of one gene, syphilis stays a step ahead of the immune system to resist eradication. The bacterium that causes…
Genetics Discovery Reveals How Legumes Give Oxygen to Symbiotic Bacteria in Their Roots
Scientists discover the genetics inside legumes that control the production of an oxygen-carrying molecule, crucial to the plant’s close relationships with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. The finding…
Antibiotic Breakthrough: Scientists Finally Figure Out How Penicillin Kills Bacteria
The mechanism which allows β-lactam antibiotics, including penicillin, to kill MRSA has been revealed for the first time. An international team of researchers led by…
Incredible Images Reveal the Complex Face of Living Bacteria Like Never Before
The sharpest images ever of living bacteria have been recorded by UCL researchers, revealing the complex architecture of the protective layer that surrounds many bacteria…
New Way Discovered To Increase the Effectiveness of Antibiotics Against “Superbugs”
A multi-disciplinary project driven by EMBL Australia researchers at Monash University and Harvard University has found a way to make antibiotics more effective against antibiotic-resistant…
