Microbes
- Chemistry
Nom, nom! These bacteria eat antibiotics for lunch
Some soil microbes don’t just break down antibiotics, they can eat them too. Scientists have found one way they do it.
- Microbes
Analyze This: These viruses are behemoths
Scientists keep finding larger and larger viruses. Just how big can these microbes get?
- Brain
Belly bacteria can shape mood and behavior
Our guts and our brains are in constant communication with the goal of managing a whole lot more than food digestion. Their conversations can affect stress, behaviors — even memory.
- Health & Medicine
Bad food? New sensors will show with a glow
Sensors that glow around dangerous germs could be built into packaging to warn people of tainted foods.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists discover how norovirus hijacks the gut
Noroviruses make people vomit, but scientists didn’t actually know why. It now turns out that those viruses cause their misery by attacking special “tuft” cells in the gut.
- Health & Medicine
Which bacteria hang out in belly buttons? Here’s a who’s who
Bacteria are everywhere — even in our belly buttons. One teen at Intel ISEF decided to find out what types people were harboring in their navels.
- Chemistry
Human waste could power plastic-making in space
Someday recycled urine and exhaled breath could feed specially engineered yeast to make plastics and other useful chemicals on long space missions.
- Health & Medicine
Hairy nanoparticles put viruses in a deadly embrace
Current drugs can’t stop viruses for good. But newly developed hairy nanoparticles just might. They surround and put pressure on the viruses, which ultimately destroys them.
- Microbes
Most Americans would welcome a microbial E.T.
People are more likely to welcome than be scared by new evidence pointing to extraterrestrial life, Americans report — at least if the E.T.’s are tiny.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists Say: Triclosan
This chemical is known for its bacteria-killing skills. But its use can also promote the development of dangerous, antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists probe new ways to control malaria
In the quest to stop malaria, one researcher studies the disease in birds, bats and other animals. Another focuses on climate change and human sprawl.
- Life
Scientists Say: Archaea
Archaea are single-celled organisms that live anywhere from hot springs to your gut. Scientists used to think they were bacteria, but now they know they are their own domain.
