Microbiology

Want yogurt but don't like the exploitation of dairy cows? Researchers at the Universitat Politècnica de València have some good news. They have used plant-based “milks” to create products fermented with probiotic bacteria from grains and nuts- an al ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 4 2014 - 6:30am

Science Saves Papaya Crops In Mexico

Mexico is considered one of the leading countries in papaya production but its crops are affected by the virus of the ringed spot, which leaves ring marks in the skin of the fruit and causes softening of the papaya, where fungi start to digest it. More tha ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 5 2014 - 2:37pm

Bacteroides Ovatus Gut Bacterium A Crucial Part Of Our Daily Dietary Fiber Toolkit

Researchers have discovered the genetic machinery that turns the common gut bacterium Bacteroides ovatus into the Swiss Army knife of the digestive tract, helping us metabolize a main component of dietary fiber from the cell walls of fruits and vegetable ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 20 2014 - 11:54am

Beauty And The Bacteria: Thin Men Have Fewer Nasal Pathogens Than Heavy Ones

As if pretty people didn't have enough advantages, they may also give us a glance at their reproductive health, according to a paper in the American Journal of Human Biology reveals a link between Body Mass Index (BMI) and the amount of bacteria colo ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 18 2014 - 11:05am

Frank Zappa Gets A Zit-Causing Bacterium Named After Him

Would avant-garde musician be offended that scientists named a zit-causing bacterium P. acnes type Zappae. No, he would probably laugh. ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 19 2014 - 12:01am

Bacteria Go With The Flow- To Stick Around

A new study finds that bacterial movement is impeded in flowing water, enhancing the likelihood that the microbes will attach to surfaces, which sheds some new light on how infections take hold in medical devices. The findings were the result of microscopi ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 24 2014 - 11:06am

Antibiotic Resistance Genes Found From The 14th Century- Long Before Antibiotics Were Used In Medicine

We tend to think of antibiotic resistance as a product of modern medicine and the mutation ability of pesky viruses to get around dying. Writing in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a team of investigators say they have discovered viruse ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 27 2014 - 6:35pm

Does Raw Milk Reduce Lactose Intolerance? No

Aggressive marketing by raw milk proponents has included claims that raw milk is easier to stomach for for lactose-intolerant people but a pilot study from the Stanford University School of Medicine shows no meaningful difference in digestibility between ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 10 2014 - 5:30pm

Sleuthing The Evolution Of A Superbug

The antibiotic-resistant bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae sequence type 258 (ST258) is the predominant cause of human infections among bacteria classified as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), which kill approximately 600 people annually in the ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 17 2014 - 4:10pm

Tiny Greenhouse Gas Emitters Have A Big Impact

Of the uncertainties facing climate modelers, climate feedbacks from decomposition by soil microbes are among the biggest. The dynamics among soil microbes allow them to work more efficiently and flexibly as they break down organic matter – spewing less ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 7 2014 - 9:48am