Microbiology

Measles Has Been With Us For At Least 8,000 Years- And Cities May Be Why

Environmental groups believe that living in cities is better for the environment but if there is one thing that COVID-19 has made clear, it's that living in cities is better for spreading infectious disease also.  Despite having numerous large cities, ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 22 2020 - 2:44pm

Phylloxera: The Worst Enemy Of Wine Gets Its Genome Mapped

Biologists have mapped the genome of phylloxera, an aphid-like pest capable of decimating vineyards. In so doing, they have identified nearly 3,000 genes enabling the insect to colonize and feed on grape vines by creating what are essentially nutritionally ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 30 2020 - 6:01am

Low Power Microbes Discovery Could Shake Up The Search For Life On Other Planets

We eat various foods and our metabolism converts it to energy our bodies can use. This is a hallmark of life, across plants, animals, algae and bacteria. Energy is a defining characteristic of living. ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 6 2020 - 10:18am

Viroids: Brazilian Plants Are Infested With 200 Natural Pathogens, But Here Is How Science Can Help

An annotated list of 219 pathogens that infect plants in Brazil, including many agriculturally important species, shows just how precarious things can be when it comes to maintaining an affordable, sustainable food supply. ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 6 2020 - 10:36am

IBD: How A Class Of Killer T Cells Goes Rogue

Between 6 and 8 million people worldwide suffer from inflammatory bowel disease, a group of chronic intestinal disorders that can cause belly pain, urgent and frequent bowel movements, bloody stools and weight loss. New research suggests that a malfunctio ...

Article - The Conversation - Aug 23 2020 - 3:56pm

How Does A Virus Win?

To estimate infection rates of viruses like SARS-CoV-2, immunologists use a basic reproduction number, known as R0 (pronounced “R naught”)- an expression of the number of people likely to catch a disease from one contagious person- and a Susceptible-Infect ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 29 2020 - 10:40am

Nature Likes Life And Death Struggle, Which Is Why Evolution Prefers More Severe Diseases Like COVID-19

A new study found that natural selection, a key mechanism in biological evolution, favors pathogens with more virulence- how much harm they cause- at the point the disease emerges in a new host species. Not too much, or else everything will be dead, but n ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 12 2020 - 9:55am

Does Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) Vaccine Provide Protection Against COVID-19?

Mumps IgG titers, levels of IgG antibody, have been correlated to lowered severity in recovered COVID-19 patients who had the Merck MMR II vaccine, and that has led a group to speculate that the MMR vaccine may protect against COVID-19. ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Nov 20 2020 - 3:32pm

The Next Plague: VEEV?

While the world recovers from the third coronavirus pandemic of the last 17 years, it's important to be mindful that nature is always evolving new ways to kill. It's why scientists need to create a new influenza vaccine each year. ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 23 2020 - 1:03pm

Thanksgiving Dinner Means A Bacterial War For Your Teeth

On Thanksgiving Day, it will be all hugs and football for many people, but inside their mouths one of the biggest wars of the year will be taking place. Streptococcus mutans and other harmful bacteria get their own holiday feast and S. mutans gets to launc ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 24 2020 - 2:31pm