MicrobeWorld

"When Robotic Technology, Inc., and Cyclone Power Technologies announced earlier this month they had completed the first phase of their project to build a robotic vehicle that could scavenge sticks, grass, leaves and other biomass to fuel itself, the companies had no idea that their proposed mac... Read More

While many are supporting the idea of building a green wall of vegetation (i.e. trees) to prevent the march of sands on the creeping southern border of the Sahara, Architect Magnus Larsson is proposing that we also solidify the dunes using bacteria-filled balloons.

At a recent TED conference... Read More

"The causative agent of cholera, Vibrio cholerae, has been detected in stool samples collected from the Jajarkot district in Nepal where more than 150 persons died of diarrhea in recent weeks.

When five suspected samples were subjected to laboratory test in Kathmandu following the Ministry of... Read More

"Scientists in Nevada are reporting development of a new and environmentally friendly process for producing biodiesel fuel from "chicken feather meal," made from the 11 billion pounds of poultry industry waste that accumulate annually in the United States alone."

Here's the secret recipe:

... Read More

Biologists studying the penguins of Galapagos islands have found evidence that the animals harbor the malaria parasite plasmodium.

"Iris Levin of the University of Missouri at St Louis and her colleagues took blood samples from 362 Galapagos penguins – already listed as being threatened with ... Read More

An international consortium has found that wild chimpanzees naturally infected with Simian Immunodeficiency Viruses (SIV) – long thought to be harmless to the apes – can contract an AIDS-like syndrome and die as a result. The findings are published in the July 23 edition of the journal Nature.
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Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute have for the first time produced a malarial protein (Pfs48/45) in the proper conformation and quantity to generate a significant immune response in mice and non-human primates for use in a potential transmission-blocking vaccine. Antibo... Read More

Scientists in a network of medical research institutions across the United States are set to begin a series of clinical trials to gather critical data about influenza vaccines, including two candidate H1N1 flu vaccines. The research will be under the direction of the National Institute of Allerg... Read More

According to Dr. David H. Martin, Professor and Chief of the Section of Infectious Diseases at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, "the number of cases of the asymptomatic Chlamydia trachomatis, the most common reportable infectious disease in the US, is growing; gonorrhea... Read More

Instead of reporting confirmed and probable novel H1N1 flu cases, the CDC has transitioned to using its traditional flu surveillance systems to track the progress of both the novel H1N1 flu pandemic and seasonal influenza. The CDC believes "confirmed and probable case counts represent a signific... Read More

Researchers from Canada and India have published a thorough paper in the American Chemical Society’s bi-monthly journal Industrial Engineering & Chemical Research on various approaches, challenges and benefits of “milking” oil from single-cell algae known as diatoms.

"In this communication, ... Read More

In a new study published today (July 22) in the July issue of the journal Cell Host & Microbe, UC Davis researchers report that both amyloid plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients and structures made by some gut bacteria likely elicit the same response by human immune cells.

"Alz... Read More

U.S. health officials say swine flu could strike up to 40 percent of Americans over the next two years and as many as several hundred thousand could die if a vaccine campaign and other measures aren't successful.

Those estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mean about t... Read More

The evolution of multiple antibiotic resistances is a global and difficult problem to eradicate. Isabel Gordo, a group leader at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC)- Portugal, reports in the paper published in the latest issue of PLoS Genetics (*), that the deleterious effect associated wi... Read More

The “flesh eating bacteria” is actually a relatively rare bacterial infection technically known as necrotizing fasciitis.

The most common organism that causes this devastating disease is Streptococcus pyogenes (group A strep), however other bacteria have been implicated (Clostrid... Read More

US researchers have created 'bacterial computers' with the potential to solve complicated mathematics problems. The findings of the research demonstrate that computing in living cells is feasible, opening the door to a number of applications. The second-generation bacterial computers illustrate ... Read More

A Massachusetts-based biofuel company called Qteros, formerly known as SunEthanol, has announced an ethanol yield well beyond what the U.S. Department of Energy considers the threshold for commercial production using a technology called Q Microbe, which turns biomass into cellulosic ethanol,

... Read More

MIT's Technology Review offers some interesting insight into the business of personal genome sequencing and analysis:

In some ways, Jorge Conde, cofounder of the genomics startup Knome, knows his clients more intimately than any other company president. Knome is the first company to sequence... Read More

Like that of the tongue, cell receptors in the lungs can detect bitter substances. "Epithelial cells that line the airways in the lungs use the same type of sensory receptors" as found in the tongue and act to repel bitter compounds which are often toxic. "Tiny, hair-like projections called cili... Read More

Reprogrammed mouse skin cells have resulted in living mice. Mice that have since reproduced and seen their offspring reproduce as well. "The reprogrammed adult cells, known as induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells" are similar to embryonic stem cells however researchers are unsure if these... Read More