MicrobeWorld

Biologists have demonstrated a connection between multiple sclerosis (MS)—an autoimmune disorder that affects the brain and spinal cord—and gut bacteria.

Details of the findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Multiple sclerosis results from the progressive d... Read More

Vincent, Rich, Karla, and Marilyn recorded TWiV at the 29th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Virology in Bozeman, where they discussed plant viruses and how they make plants resistant to adve... Read More

Destainie writes:

Hi Vincent et Al :)

I am an avid listener of both Twiv and Twip and am very grateful that you all take the time each week to create these wonderful podcasts, they are a great learning tool! I did have several questions I’d li... Read More

How a retrovirus, like HIV, reproduces and assembles new viruses is different than previously thought, according to researchers.

The team studied a chicken virus called Rous sarcoma virus that causes cancer in chickens and is similar to HIV.

“The question is, how do retroviruses build new ... Read More

In a laboratory where almost all the test tubes look green, the tools of modern biotechnology are being applied to lowly pond scum.

Foreign genes are being spliced into algae and native genes are being tweaked.

Different strains of algae are pitted against one another in survival-of-the-f... Read More

Merry Youle from the Small Things Considered blog ponders the potential size a virus can be:

"With such fascinating stories being told by Mimivirus and the other giants, people are now looking for them in more environments. Modified techniques are called for, as those used previously to spot ... Read More

Antiretroviral therapy provides life-saving medicine to HIV-infected people but it is not a cure. Long-term exposure to the drugs and the virus itself shorten a person's life, even if they don't develop AIDS. Two HIV/AIDS Disease Teams led by scientists at UCLA and the City of Hope are focused o... Read More

First, you may be asking yourself – Why viral bioinformatics? Good question! Although it’s true that much in the world of bioinformatics can be applied to all manner of protein and DNA sequences, there are a number of resources that are specific for viruses and there are a number of analyses tha... Read More

Elio Schaechter of Small Things Considered highlights some of the scientific development that took place centuries ago in Quito, the present-day capital of Ecuador.

Snippet:

"In 1589 a smallpox epidemic killed 37.5% of Quito’s inhabitants. A description of the disease in a letter by one of... Read More

Public immunization efforts may be much more sensitive than previously realized to small changes in the perceived costs or risks of vaccination, scientists at Harvard University report this week. In some cases, the spread of vaccine avoidance via social networks can make the difference between a... Read More

I wouldn't recommend anyone wear the same pair of underwear for a full month without washing them; the results would not be pretty. But a new type of nanotechnology-infused underwear that are quick-drying and odor-absorbing? Well, if they're good enough for astronauts, they should be good enough... Read More

Some trees growing in nutrient-poor forest soil may get what they need by cultivating specific root microbes to create compounds they require. These microbes are exceptionally efficient at turning inorganic minerals into nutrients that the trees can use. Researchers from France report their find... Read More

Escherichia coli bacteria have been genetically engineered to produce artificial spider dragline silk, which is five times stronger than steel and has multiple potential applications.

Sang Yup Lee at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) led the research to find a via... Read More

A continuacion: Desinfección de aguas contaminadas con energía solar, Microbios del suelo y productos farmacéuticos, Afloramientos de algas tóxicas, y Proteínas y perejil.

Desinfección de agu... Read More

In addition to working as a scientist, and well before his discovery of antibiotics, Alexander Fleming painted. He was a member of the Chelsea Arts Club, where he created amateurish watercolors. Less well known is that he also painted in another medium, living organisms. Fleming painted ballerin... Read More

Viruses do not make good fossils. But advances in genomic technology have allowed scientists to peer into the genetic material of viruses and their hosts to search for clues about their shared evolutionary history.

Genetic code from retroviruses has been found to compose some 8 percent of the... Read More

As if rows of serrated teeth and an uncanny ability to smell blood weren't deadly enough, sharks now have a new way to harm unsuspecting swimmers: drug-resistance bacteria.

According to recent research in the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine, sharks and redfish from shores off of Massachu... Read More

Public health officials have been working for months to understand whether the XMRV virus poses a risk to the nation’s blood supply. The concern was sparked by a paper published last year in Science that detected the virus in the blood of 67% of chronic fatigue syndrome patients, compared to ju... Read More

Every day, millions of microorganisms reach Spain from the Sahara Desert and the Sahel region – by flying. Louis Pasteur demonstrated back in 1861 that germs can move through the air, but it was only recently discovered that bacteria, funguses and viruses can travel thousands of kilometers stuck... Read More

To take full advantage of recent increased financial commitments from some governments, international agencies, and philanthropies, accurate and up-to-date mapping of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) needs to be implemented to help improve the precision of decision-making in NTD control and el... Read More