Drug-resistant bacteria lurk in sewer biofilms
The biofilms that cling to sewer walls often contain harmful, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and can withstand standard treatment to disinfect sewers, research finds.
Tags: bacteria drug-resistance health-and-medicine biofilms wastewater-treatment
How to manage plant pests and diseases in your victory garden
The COVID-19 pandemic has boosted interest in home gardening. Three scientists who garden explain some basic methods for controlling common insects and microbes that can spoil your crop.
July 2, 2020 • ~9 min
Tags: bacteria covid-19 insects soil plants fungi viruses integrated-pest-management gardening nematodes weeds land-grant-universities plant-health victory-garden
The connection between microbes and cholesterol levels
Researchers discover mysterious bacteria that break it down in the gut.
Tags: science-technology chemistry heart-disease bacteria emily-balskus chemistry-and-chemical-biology broad-institute caitlin-mcdermott-murphy microbiome microbes gut microbiology ramnik-xavier center-for-microbiome-informatics-and-therapeutics cholesterol cell-host-and-microbe coprostanol damian-plichta douglas-kenny metagenomics
We caught bacteria from the most pristine air on earth to help solve a climate modeling mystery
Climate models have been overestimating how much sunlight hits the Southern Ocean. This is because the clouds there are different from clouds anywhere else. Bacterial DNA helped us understand why.
Tags: climate bacteria antarctica climate-models atmospheric-science weather clouds southern-ocean
How legume ‘fertilizer factories’ make ammonium
Mapping the mechanism that lets legumes make their own ammonium fertilizer could help make agriculture more sustainable.
Tags: bacteria agriculture plants nitrogen earth-and-environment roots fertilizer
Natural antibiotic resists ‘superbugs’
A newly discovered natural antibiotic called teixobactin may be a perfect weapon to fight drug-resistant superbugs like MRSA.
Tags: bacteria covid-19 antibiotics drug-resistance health-and-medicine mrsa
New research explores horizontal gene transfer
Cassandra Extavour and Leo Blondel provide the strongest suggestive evidence yet that at least part of a specific gene came from bacterial genomes.
Tags: science-technology bacteria genes faculty-of-arts-and-sciences fas harvard peter-reuell cassandra-extavour horizontal-gene-transfer gene blondel extavour gene-transfer germ-cells leo-blondel osk-domain oskar
Most common ocean organisms host virus in DNA
A tiny jelly-bean shaped organism—the most common in the ocean—may thrive because of an ability to host viruses in its DNA.
Tags: dna bacteria viruses oceans earth-and-environment
Compounds in Brazilian berries can ‘disarm’ MRSA
Compounds inside berries from the Brazilian peppertree can keep MRSA from making the toxins it uses to damage tissues, researchers say.
Tags: bacteria antibiotics plants drug-resistance health-and-medicine
Blue light could be the ‘next frontier’ in superbug fight
A new, blue light-based weapon called photolysis, may be key in the fight against antibiotic-resistant pathogens like MRSA.
Tags: bacteria drug-resistance light science-and-technology health-and-medicine mrsa superbugs
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