Improved Silver Coating for Medical Devices Kills Bacteria To Prevent Infection
According to folklore, silver bullets kill werewolves, but in the real world, researchers want to harness this metal to combat another deadly foe: bacteria. Scientists…
Bacteria News
Evidence of Zoonotic Spread: Superbug C. difficile Can Jump Between Pigs and Humans
A study investigating samples of the superbug Clostridioides difficile across 14 pig farms in Denmark finds the sharing of multiple antibiotic-resistance genes between pigs and human patients, providing…
New Engineered Bacteria Could Prevent Side Effects of Antibiotics
Microbes that safely break down antibiotics could prevent opportunistic infections and reduce the spread of antibiotic resistance. Antibiotics are life-saving drugs, but they can also…
Entirely New Immune System Discovered in Bacteria
Like humans, bacteria have various immune systems to defend against pathogens such as viruses. These immune systems usually degrade the DNA of the pathogens to…
Diverse Life Forms Evolved 3.75 Billion Years Ago – Challenging the Conventional View of When Life Began
Diverse life forms may have evolved earlier than previously thought. Diverse microbial life existed on Earth at least 3.75 billion years ago, suggests a new…
New Discovery on How Bacteria Swim Could Help Prevent the Spread of Disease and Improve Medical Treatments
University of Minnesota researchers studied for the first time how bacteria move through fluids containing small solid particles. For years, science fiction authors have written…
Methane-Eating Bacteria Convert Potent Greenhouse Gas Into Usable Fuel
State-of-the-art method reveals never-before-seen atomic structures controlling the process. Methanotrophic bacteria consume 30 million metric tons of methane per year and have captivated researchers for…
New Antibiotics Could Work by Starving Pneumonia-Causing Bacteria of Their Favorite “Food”
Australian researchers have revealed how the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) obtains the essential nutrient, manganese, from our bodies, which could lead to better therapies to…
Microbes in Your Gut May Affect Personality – Could Be Associated With Mental and Physical Fatigue
Clarkson University Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Ali Boolani is performing research to determine if gut microbiome and metabolomic pathways in the gut could be…
Bacteria in the Nose Can Sneak Into the Brain – May Increase Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease
New research from Griffith University has shown that a bacterium commonly present in the nose can sneak into the brain and set off a cascade…
New DNA Modification System Discovered in Animals – “It’s Almost Unbelievable”
Marine Biological Laboratory finds gene captured from bacteria more than 60 million years ago. Your DNA holds the blueprint to build your body, but it’s…
High Blood Pressure Linked With Certain Oral Bacteria in Older Women
In a study of more than 1,200 women in the U.S., average age 63 years, 10 kinds of oral bacteria were associated with a higher…
Illuminating a Biological Light Switch in Unprecedented Detail and Speed
Using an innovative new imaging technique, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have revealed the inner workings of a family of light-sensing molecules in unprecedented detail…
For Cancer Patients on Immunotherapy, Harmful Gut Bacteria May Matter More Than Helpful Ones
Melanoma patients receiving therapy that helps their immune system kill cancer cells respond to treatment differently depending on the types of microbes in their gut,…
New DNA Modification System Discovered in Animals – Captured From Bacteria More Than 60 Million Years Ago
Your DNA holds the blueprint to build your body, but it’s a living document: Adjustments to the design can be made by epigenetic marks. Epigenetic…
Spectacular Chain-Mail Structure: The Protective Armor of Superbug C. difficile Revealed
Spectacular structure of chain-mail may explain the success of C.diff at defending itself against antibiotics and immune system molecules. The spectacular structure of the protective…
MIT Chemists Discover Structure of Protein That Pumps Toxic Molecules Out of Bacterial Cells
Protein Structure Offers Clues to Drug-Resistance Mechanism A new study sheds light on how a protein pumps toxic molecules out of bacterial cells. MIT chemists…
Bizarre Bacterial Superpower: How Some Gut Microbes Awaken Zombie Viruses in Their Neighbors
Gut bacteria brew all sorts of chemicals, but we don’t know what most of them do. A new study suggests that one such compound, previously…
