Swapping Symbionts Enabled Mediterranean Lichen to Conquer the Arctic
The miraculous recovery of a coral and the gargantuan range of a lichen may both result from the surprising evolutionary advantages their "alternative" lifestyles give them
Swine, Superbugs, and the Meat We Choose to Eat
A study published last week in the journal Clinical Infectious Disease found that Iowa pig farm workers were six times more likely than non-pig farmers to carry multi-drug resistant Staphylococcus aureus (S.
Tube Worm Larvae Use Prickly Bacterial Flowers to Choose Home
Like a steaming pile of lava or the soggy soil below a melting glacier, the freshly scrubbed hull of a ship is a magnet for new life.
Turning to Bacteria to Fight the Effects of Climate Change
Recently the United Nations warned that the world could suffer a 40 percent shortfall in water by 2030 unless countries dramatically cut consumption.
Farewell from Octopus Chronicles—And an Ode To a Tool-Wielding Octopus
Today, after more than three years, I must bid farewell to Octopus Chronicles on ScientificAmerican.com. It has been a wild, weird, and fun run.
Octopus Genome Remains Elusive—But Full of Promise
As many mysteries as the octopus holds—its comprehensive camouflage, smart suckers, agile brain—its genome is surely holding many more (including how it can regenerate its arms—suckers, nerves and all).
Bacterial Motors Come in a Dizzying Array of Models
Bacteria propel themselves with corkscrew tails anchored in rotary motors. That may seem surprisingly mechanical for a microbe, but it is a system that has been wildly popular and conserved across billions of years of evolution.
Microbiome Studies Contaminated by Sequencing Supplies
Nonsterile lab reagents and DNA extraction kits add their own assortment of DNA to microbiome samples. Christopher Intagliata reports
Shooting the messenger: small RNA as a target for antibiotics
All living cells contain DNA; the code for producing every protein needed by the cell. As DNA is important it needs to be kept safe. Plants and animals keep their DNA tightly twisted and organised inside a double-membrane bound nucleus while bacteria keep their DNA coiled up in a big circle, with the occasional loop [...]
Seattle Suburb Making Progress against E. Coli in Water Supply
A Seattle suburb was making progress cleansing its E. coli-contaminated water supply through system-wide flushes and chlorine injections, a task made more urgent after the potentially deadly bacteria sickened a child, officials said on Tuesday.
Manure Fertilizer Increases Antibiotic Resistance
Faeces from antibiotic-free cows helps resistant bacteria to flourish in soil, puzzling researchers.
Lab Rat Lecture
Last month I had the privilege of being invited as a speaker for the Blogging Microbes event at the University of Nottingham. Hosted by Ivan Lafayette it was a great discussion of the role of blogs, twitter, and podcasts in communicating science, particularly microbiology, to a wider audience.