MicrobeWorld

Germs really are everywhere: Bacteria, fungal spores and other biological detritus have been found in clouds and likely help to form the cores of cloud droplets, scientists have found.

The study of the role that these biological particles play in cloud formation could help refine one of the b... Read More

In a sudden surge that took Asian health officials by surprise, the Japanese health ministry confirmed on Monday at least 125 new cases of the A(H1N1) virus — or swine flu — in the country's western prefectures of Osaka and Hyogo. Officials have shut down around 1,000 schools since many of the i... Read More

The head of the World Health Organization says major drug companies have agreed on a plan to give poor countries access to a swine flu vaccine and antiviral medications if a worldwide outbreak is declared.

Dr. Margaret Chan says she appealed for help as she met with drug companies and vaccine... Read More

The world's largest lizard, the Komodo dragon, has a snake-like venom in its bite which sends victims into shock and stops their blood from clotting, according to Australian research.

It had been widely believed that deadly bacteria in the carnivorous lizard's mouth helped kill its prey.

B... Read More

Canadian researcher Sylvain Martel has developed a ultra tiny machine that can be propelled and steered through a swarm of 3,000 bacteria.

The tiny device, which measures just 300x300 microns, contains a solar cell, communications circuit and sensor. By sensing pH levels and sharing them via ... Read More

Scientists at the University of Hull, UK, think they have found a way to put a stop to red tide by exposing them to blasts of ultrasound. Michiel Postema and his colleagues tested three different frequencies on a particularly harmful species of blue-green algae, Anabaena sphaerica, which can cau... Read More

A team of University of Oregon biologists, using fruit flies, has created a way to isolate RNA from specific cells, opening a new window on how gene expression drives normal development and disease-causing breakdowns.

While DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) provides an identical genetic blueprint ... Read More

On episode 32 of the podcast "This Week in Virology", Vincent, Alan, and Raul Rabadan converse about polio survivors in iron lungs, bocavirus, structure of mimivirus, and genome sequence analysis of influenza H1N1 viruses. Read More

In episode 32 of This Week in Virology, hosts Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove and guest Read More

As the media frenzy and public fears about swine flu/H1N1 rescinds, health experts are worried that hand washing vigilance will slack.

"Just weeks ago, Americans were hearing similar, daily pleas from health officials and even President Obama as initial fears about a new flu virus, called H1N... Read More

A team at the Pasteur Institute has taken a big step towards better understanding the molecular mechanisms that transform Listeria from a harmless soil-dweller to a dangerous human pathogen by mapping the genes that Listeria expresses under different environmental conditions.

The researchers... Read More

The World Health Organization reports the number of confirmed swine flu cases has risen by nearly 1,000 in 24 hours to 8,451. Read More

"Researchers in Canada have created a solar-powered micro-machine that is no bigger than the period at the end of this sentence. The tiny machine can carry out basic sensing tasks and can indirectly control the movement of a swarm of bacteria in the same Petri dish."

"On such a small device t... Read More

The analysis of a termite entombed for 100 million years in an ancient piece of amber has revealed the oldest example of "mutualism" ever discovered between an animal and microorganism, and also shows the unusual biology that helped make this one of the most successful, although frequently despi... Read More

I've always scene these types of masks featured in freaky movies, but had no idea that they were used by doctors in the 17th century to treat people who got infected by the plague.

"Scientists thought the plague was caused by breathing harmful gases emitted from the ground, and doctors put fl... Read More

The World Health Organization is working to debunk rumors started by an Australian virologist.

"The virus rumor was started by Adrian J. Gibbs, a retired plant virologist from the Australian National University, who previously published work in the journal Science questioning the idea, now ac... Read More

Melanie Cushion holds down two jobs: she’s a research career scientist at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, and she’s also professor and associate chair for re... Read More

This is an exciting discovery for chemists, biologists and microbiologists alike. It's a great read.

John D. Sutherland, a chemist at the University of Manchester, has solved a problem that for 20 years has thwarted researchers trying to understand the origin of life — how the building blocks... Read More

The World Health Organization is now considering whether to advise the world's vaccine makers to switch from ordinary flu vaccine to the swine flu one. While a pandemic declaration is still probable, and the WHO gives the go-ahead, the swine flu vaccine will arrive too late for many.

Here's w... Read More

A proposal by a team of UC Davis scientists to develop the world’s first electron microscope capable of filming live biological processes has been awarded a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

The team’s plan is to extend the capabilities of a powerful new imaging tool ca... Read More