MicrobeWorld

A promising antimicrobial agent already known to kill bacteria can also kill viruses and stimulate the innate immune system, according to researchers at National Jewish Health. In a paper appearing online June 4 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Michael Howell, PhD, Assistant Professo... Read More

Dogfish Head Brewery from Delaware has announced they will be recreating the original recipe of a 9,000 year old brew whose ingredients were deduced from pottery shards found in Northern China.

"University of Pennsylvania molecular archaeologist Patrick McGovern first described the beverage i... Read More

Dengue Fever (DF) and Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) are the most important vector-borne viral diseases in the World. Around 50-100 million cases appear each year putting 2.5 billion people at risk of suffering this debilitating and sometimes fatal disease. Dengue Fever is prevalent in the Tropi... Read More

Swine flu reminded us how important washing our hands can be. Studies show that simple handwashing can decrease communicable gastrointestinal diseases by 50% and communicable respiratory diseases by 20%.

Now, with schools at special risk for swine flu, a Tel Aviv University researcher is brin... Read More

"H1N1 flu is casting a distinctly dappled shadow across the Iowa State Fair Grounds, where 18,000 pork producers (including about 3,000 from 50 foreign countries), 450 exhibitors and 2,500 pigs are spending much of this week."

It seems the H1N1 flu and the spread of misinformation regarding i... Read More

Stonyfield Farms, the makers of the popular yogurt brand by the same name, has come up with a special diet for cows in Vermont that helps to reduce methane emissions up to 18% or so. Climatologist are excited about this idea since many vieew cows and their gas as a big threat to climate change.
... Read More

In the latest issue of New Scientist, Sheldon Krimsky, adjunct professor in the Department of Public Health and Family Medicine at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, states that the "blurring of the boundaries between independently refereed publications and advertorials is unacceptable.... Read More

The most recent issue of Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice, and Science has a great interview with John Barry, historian and author of "The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague In History." The interview discusses his book, it's impact on pandemic pol... Read More

Bacterial parasites known to infect cell nuclei are often assumed to be few and far between. But, recent research from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Symbiosis Group, in Bremen, Germany, describes a novel bacterial parasite named "Candidatus Endonucleobacter bathymodioli" th... Read More

A species of bacteria, isolated from sediments deep under the Pacific Ocean, could provide a powerful clean-up tool for heavy metal pollution. Writing in the current issue of the journal, Microbiology, Professor Gejiao Wang and his colleagues from Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, PR Ch... Read More

Scientists around the world are accelerating their efforts to develop a vaccine against the H1N1 influenza virus (Swine flu) as rapidly as possible, reports Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN). The need for such a vaccine received a strong impetus from the World Health Organization, w... Read More

Could mermaids have anything to do with this?

Exposure to estrogen reduces production of immune-related proteins in fish. This suggests that certain compounds, known as endocrine disruptors, may make fish more susceptible to disease.

The research may provide new clues for why intersex fish... Read More

The sea floor is strewn with raw materials that could be very important in the future: Manganese and iron, but also rarer and more precious elements such as cobalt, copper, zinc and nickel, are present in great quantities in the form of deep-sea nodules and crusts. The depositions of such materi... Read More

A very interesting blog post over on the Nature Network by editor Henry Gee that's sparking lots of comments and debate.

"The Man is now so worried about the decline in take-up of the MMR (Measles-Mumps-Rubella) vaccine that some clinicians are suggesting they be made compulsory – that no chi... Read More

Research presented by Reid Harris, Department of Biology, James Madison University, at the American Society for Microbiology's General Meeting in Philadelphia provides hope for the world's declining frog population.

"Many amphibian species in relatively pristine habitats are experiencing dram... Read More

From Harvard Medical School:

Using the zebrafish as an animal model, researchers have discovered that the body uses hydrogen peroxide to sound the alarm when a tissue has been injured. As a direct result of this hydrogen-peroxide red alert, white blood cells come to the aid of the wounded sit... Read More

This is not good news!

"Healthcare workers will desert their posts in droves in a pandemic, unless the safety and psychological issues they face are addressed. So say surveys of doctors, nurses and other staff, such as lab techs, secretaries and porters, from around the world.

The worst p... Read More

Exposure to estrogen reduces production of immune-related proteins in fish. This suggests that certain compounds, known as endocrine disruptors, may make fish more susceptible to disease.

The research may provide new clues for why intersex fish, fish kills and fish lesions often occur togethe... Read More

This comes out of Texas A&M:

"Researchers at Texas A&M University’s Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering have discovered how certain types of bacteria integrate the DNA that they have captured from invading enemies into their own genetic makeup to increase their chances of surviv... Read More

The 2009 American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Eli Lilly and Company Research Award is being presented to Joseph L. DeRisi, Ph.D., Howard Hughes Medical Investigator and professor, Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco. This award ... Read More