Microbiology

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

Third World Yeast Made First World Beer Possible

Not many people care about where the yeast that makes much of modern beer possible came from. But science cares. The cold-adapted yeast that blended with a distant cousin to make the lager-churning hybrid has been a biological black box for the last 500 y ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 3 2015 - 5:47pm

Plant Zombies: How Bacterial Parasites Turn Them Into The Living Dead

It's no secret that bacterial parasites can change creatures. The parasitic lancet liver fluke infects the brain of ants, compelling them to climb to the tip of a blade of grass and into the mouth of a grazing animal. Another parasite is thought to ch ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 12 2014 - 5:30am

Symbiotic Association: Wasps And Microbes Have Been Faithful Allies Since The Cretaceous

Humans depend on microbes for survival. So do most animals and such symbioses can persist for millions of years. Scientists have discovered that certain wasps tightly control mother-to-offspring transmission of their bacterial symbionts. This stabilizes t ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 14 2014 - 3:32pm

How Pathogenic E. Coli O157:H7 Binds To Fresh Vegetables

Food-poisoning outbreaks linked to Escherichia coli are often associated with tainted meat products but up to 30% of these are caused by people eating contaminated vegetables, and that has risen with the popularity of the organic process, as was seen in t ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 15 2014 - 10:46pm

Reproduce Or Conquer The World? Bacterial Adventures In Theoretical Biophysics

The bacterium Bacillus subtilis is quite adaptable, it moves about in liquids and on agar surfaces by means of flagella and alternatively, it can just stick to an underlying substrate.  The bacteria proliferate most effectively in this stationary state, wh ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 20 2014 - 9:42am

Tunable Coupling For Genetic Circuits- FM Radio For Bacteria

The ability to program living holds tremendous potential for energy, agriculture, water remediation and medicine, and synthetic biology is on the case. Researchers have already designed a 'tool box' of small genetic components that act as intrace ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 21 2014 - 9:30am

Black Death: A Plague In Your Family

For the first time, researchers have studied the Black Death bacterium's entire family tree to fully understand how some of the family members evolve to become harmful. Contrary to popular belief, pathogenic members of this bacterial family do not sh ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 21 2014 - 9:00pm