Microbiology

Mystery Virus That Turned Starfish Into Goo Identified

An Ochre starfish, in healthier times. Amanda Bates, Author provided By Amanda Bates, University of Southampton We live in a time when our climate is warming more rapidly than ever before. Rising temperature and associated changes in weather are driving s ...

Article - The Conversation - Nov 19 2014 - 7:00pm

Archaea Can Survive Anywhere, Now They Might Be A Source Of Antibacterial Drugs

Archaea are a family of single-celled organisms that can thrive in environments like boiling hydrothermal pools and smoking deep sea vents deep underground, which are too extreme for most other species to survive. ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 22 2014 - 11:13am

Yeast Cells Can Cure Themselves Of Prions Associated With Alzheimer's

Yeast cells can sometimes reverse the protein misfolding and clumping associated with diseases such as Alzheimer's, according to new research which contradicts the idea that once prion proteins have changed into the shape that aggregates, the change ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 9 2014 - 5:32pm

Microbiome And Parkinson's Disease Linked

Parkinson's disease sufferers have a different microbiota in their intestines than healthy counterparts, they have less Prevotellaceae bacteria, according to a study conducted at the University of Helsinki and the Helsinki University Central Hospital ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 11 2014 - 12:48pm

Fecal Prints Of Microbes- Making The Most Of A Crappy Situation

The distinctive "fecal prints" of microbes could provide a record of how Earth and life have co-evolved over the past 3.5 billion years as the planet's temperature, oxygen levels, and greenhouse gases have changed but it's been difficul ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 24 2014 - 2:00pm

Prebiotics: Yeast Is Healthy, And So Are Bacteria That Help Us Break Down Bread And Beer

Bacteria in our digestive tract have evolved to help us break down and digest the complex carbohydrates that make up the yeast cell wall that give beer and bread their bubbles- and that could support the development of new treatments to help people fight o ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 11 2015 - 10:00am

Natural Waste Water Purification- Freezing

Microbiologists rarely wash their jeans. The reason is because they know how to keep the color looking new without getting odors- they freeze their pants.  Freezing can even work in more extreme scenarios, like with waste water.  When waste water freezes, ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 12 2015 - 12:30pm

What Is Really Killing Bees And Other Wild Pollinators

A new review of other studies concludes that viruses carried by commercial bees can jump to wild pollinator populations with potentially devastating effects. Pollinators in some regions have suffered declines and various hypotheses have been offered as to ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 19 2015 - 10:41am

New Microbes That Breathe Sulfate Discovered Beneath Ocean Crust

Two miles below the surface of the ocean, researchers have discovered new microbes that "breathe" sulfate. These microbes, which have yet to be classified and named, exist in massive undersea aquifers-- networks of channels in porous rock beneat ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 17 2015 - 12:15pm

Iron Overload Disease Causes Rapid Growth Of Deadly Vibrio Vulnificus Bacteria

Every summer, there are reports linking a bacterium called Vibrio vulnificus to people getting sick or dying. The bacteria are found in warm saltwater and problems occur after eating raw tainted shellfish or when an open wound comes in contact with seawat ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 24 2015 - 7:38am