MicrobeWorld

Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, is the process of drilling and injecting fluid into the ground at a high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks to release natural gas inside. What effect does this process have on the microorganisms that naturally exist in the water in this process?

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This episode describes how the bane of sausage makers and home canners became the darling of the Hollywood set. The lethal toxin made by our friend Clostridium botulinum was put to good use paralyzing facial muscles and erasing frown lines. This video has an amazing intro sequence. Read More

This episode explains how microbiologists perfected the art of using the fewest possible letters in place of really long complicated words, long before cell phones and the internet were invented! Read More

I joined Buddhini Samarasinghe and Scott Lewis on a Science Sunday Hangout on Air to talk about my career in virology: how I came to be interested in viruses, and what goes on in my laboratory. You can find hangouts and more at the ScienceSunday community.

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Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are part of the innate immune system that is widely distributed in nature, acting as a defense mechanism against invading microorganisms. AMPs have potent antimicrobial activity against a range of microorganisms including fungi, bacteria and viruses. In view of grow... Read More

A top New York chef teams up with Harvard scientists to explore the role of bacteria in fermentation. He hopes to better understand and tweak the process to create new and unique flavors to entice the palate. Sharon Reich reports. Read More

The swine flu virus that caused a 2009 pandemic has been found in elephant seals off the central California coast, according to new research. The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, is the first report of the virus H1N1 in any marine mammal. Researchers are now being advised to wear protec... Read More

Plants associated bacteria play a key role in host productivity and health. These bacteria are phylogenetically diverse and form interactions considered neutral, beneficial or detrimental. A better understanding of these interactions will have a direct impact in agriculture by promoting sustaina... Read More

Public health crises of the past decade — such as the 2003 SARS outbreak, which spread to 37 countries and caused about 1,000 deaths, and the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic that killed about 300,000 people worldwide — have heightened awareness that new viruses or bacteria could spread quickly across the... Read More

The emergence of human infections with avian influenza viruses (H7N9 and H5N1) have raised concerns about the virus gaining the ability to spread person-to-person, potentially causing a deadly pandemic. So far the number of human cases has been limited but the mortality rates have been high. In ... Read More

Community ecologist Sunshine Van Bael of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama details her work and role in understanding the world's first known farmers leafcutter ants, plant-insect-fungal interactions, endophytic fungi, and their dynamic relationships with the surrounding envi... Read More

Norovirus is the most common cause of acute gastroenteritis in the United States. Each year, it causes about 21 million illnesses and contributes to about 70,000 hospitalizations and 800 deaths. Norovirus is also the most common cause of foodborne-disease outbreaks in the United States. Research... Read More

Without the awesome power of microbes, these wonders of the ancient world would never have been built! Everyone knows about the awesome number of stone blocks and huge manpower requirements, but few know the important role that yeast had to play in building the pyramids. Read More

Global Viral Forecasting Founder Nathan Wolfe explains how his team is searching for humanity's next great plague... so we can stop it before it spreads.

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During my visit to Berkeley, CA to record TWiV #228, I met Deb Sklut, an artist who is inspired by the power of science. I recorded a brief conversation with Deb which you can view below. Her work can be found at SqueakySqueegeeArt.etsy.com. Read More