MicrobeWorld

Eight years ago, Herbert Smith (not his real name) did the unthinkable -- he swallowed thousands of microscopic pig whipworm eggs in a desperate try to quell his advancing Crohn's disease.

"There was nothing to it," said Smith, a 33-year old financial analyst from New York. "It was drinking h... Read More

The first Ontario case of a human contracting the H1N1 variant influenza virus from a pig has been confirmed, the province’s chief medical officer said Tuesday.

“It is a first for us in Ontario,” Dr. Arlene King told the Star.

King said an adult male, who is in critical but stable conditio... Read More

A drug currently being used to treat ischemic strokes may prove to be a significant advance in the treatment of tuberculosis and ulcers. In a new research report appearing online in The FASEB Journal, a compound called ebselen effectively inhibits the thioredoxin reductase system in a wide varie... Read More

Another fatality from a growing outbreak of a rare form of meningitis was reported Thursday, raising the death toll to five people, officials said.

In all, 35 people in six states have been sickened from a steroid that was distributed to 23 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventi... Read More

Fall is on the horizon, bringing with it freshly-sharpened pencils, vibrantly-colored leaves, and of course - the annual influenza season. In this video you will learn about the microbiology of this fascinating virus and why vaccination not only protects ourselves but higher-risk individuals all... Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, ... Read More

A new coronavirus, similar in nature to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), has infected six and resulted in two deaths in the Middle East, various media outlets have reported this weekend.

According to BBC News, the number of reported cases, as well as the number of fatalities linked w... Read More

(taken from Maryn McKenna's excellent blog in Wired)

A final post from the ICAAC meeting, which concluded at one end of the Moscone Center in San Francisco Wednesday just as the Apple iPhone 5 launch was beginning at the building’s other end. (Definitely a crossing of geek streams.)

There’... Read More

Researchers in Newcastle and Singapore have identified a new type of white blood cell which activates a killing immune response to an external source -- providing a new potential target for vaccines for conditions such as cancer or Hepatitis B.

Publishing in the journal Immunity, the team of ... Read More

Living green alga Euglena mutabilis. Technique: Differential interference contrast. Credit: Gerd Gunther, Düsseldorf, Germany

Nikon Small World 2012 Honorable Mention. Read More

New animal research suggests it may be possible to use a form of smallpox virus to infect and kill the tumor cells of a particularly virulent form of breast cancer.

To date, this novel approach to attacking what's known as triple-negative breast cancer has centered exclusively around work wit... Read More

Normally, the absence of oxygen means an absence of life. But in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill, scientists noticed something curious happening in the water. Huge populations of methane-eating bacteria appeared out of nowhere, despite the fact that there had hardly been any of ... Read More

Nikon Small World 2011 Small World in Motion competition, Dr. Ralf Wagner, Germany

The video shows a daphnia together with a volvox. The volvox is turning and moving along under the slide and at two moments the daphnia is moving its complex-eye towards the direction of the volvox and you get ... Read More

Should you ever visit Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island, New York, be sure to go see the food blender that was used to carry out the well known Hershey-Chase experiment. The blender is located in the Szybalski Reading Room of the Carnegie Library. After entering the front door of the ... Read More

Researchers at The Ohio State University have discovered a new class of treatment against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as well as evidence of a growing need to quickly genotype individual strains of the organism most commonly referred to as the "superbug."

The two separa... Read More

Healthy people's lungs are home to a diverse community of microbes that differs markedly from the bacteria found in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients. That's the result of new research from Stanford University and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, which has wide implications for treatment ... Read More

Bacteria can be pernicious, but they also keep your stomach digesting, turn cucumbers into beloved pickles, and can, apparently, also be used to make art. Of course, it all depends on how you want to define "art." But Zachary Copfer finds himself precisely where it intersects with science.

"I... Read More

And they said meth never did a body good.

A study conducted by researchers in Taiwan found that methamphetamine may possess flu-fighting properties, Medical Daily reported.

The study, published Tuesday in PLoS One, exposed human lung cells to varying quantities meth, then infected them wit... Read More

This episode: Engineered diatoms can produce functional antibodies!

Downlo... Read More

With 2,000 to 3,000 patients killed by necrotizing fasciitis each year, early diagnosis of the flesh-eating bacteria is of the utmost importance. That's what Russell Russo, an orthopedic surgeon at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, and his team are stressing in the September 2012 issue of ... Read More