MicrobeWorld

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

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

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

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

Over the last year, it’s become more and more apparent that I do, in fact, have recurrent cystitis. Having cystitis is a bit like entering the matrix – until I had my first attack I’d never even known it was a disease. It doesn’t appear in books, films or classroom lessons (particularly given th... Read More

Jesse writes:

Dear Doctor's Racaniello and Despommier,

Huzzah! I have tracked down Dick's missing book on tropical medicine, or at least another copy of said book. While listening to TWIP #40, my ears perked up when Dick said he had lent a book to a student only to h... Read More

Can your dog get the flu from you? Scientists from Oregon State University (OSU) say the next time you’re sick, you might want to distance yourself from your beloved pets. Their recent research explored the possibility of human-to-pet flu transmissions and found evidence that the infection of pe... 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

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

There’s a lot of talk these days about the role of gut bacteria in disease and health. The latest report in that area: a study in Nature that finds differences between the bacteria growing in the guts of people who have diabetes and those who don't.

The Chinese and European authors of the stu... 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

Observing signaling molecules before they leave a cell could give researchers insights into how cells in our bodies influence one another.

Chemical communication between cells keeps tissues functioning and systems coordinated, but eavesdropping on the conversation is challenging. Now, researc... Read More

This episode: Bacteria produce gas that can regulate the depth of underwater sensor devices!

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Any part of the human body that is open to the outside world it available for the colonisation of bacteria. While this blog has covered bacteria in the gut, the vagina and the throat, one area I’ve neglected to cover is the bacteria that get into the lungs. As the company I currently work for is... Read More

The human gut may help control the bacterial populations that live within it via secretions that kill some bacteria while supporting others, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal PLoS Biology.

The gut is an enormously complex environment inhabited not only by human cells but a... Read More

Dallas writes:

I am going through the old podcasts, when I have time. Number forty one covered ISA — a salmonid virus with a billion dollar class damages history. When someone mentioned vaccines development, a comments was made about how can you vaccinate salmon.

... Read More

The doctors tried one antibiotic after another, racing to stop the infection as it tore through the man's body, but nothing worked.

Just days after the middle-age patient arrived at the University of Virginia Medical Center, the stubborn bacteria in his blood had fought off even what doctors ... Read More

That's the winning formula of one of the world's smallest predators, the soil bacteria Myxococcus xanthus, and a new study by scientists at Rice University and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School shows how M. xanthus uses the formula to spread, engu... Read More