Relaxing in filth?
Pexels/Cottonbro studio
The filthy secrets of hotel rooms and why you might want to pack disinfectant on your next trip.
Shutterstock
The Huc enzyme can split hydrogen molecules to make electricity, raising the possibility of small devices that run on air.
Multiple sclerosis involves the immune system attacking the protective myelin sheath of neurons.
koto_feja/iStock via Getty Images Plus
The gut microbiome plays a big role in mediating how the immune system responds to perceived threats, which include the body’s own nerves.
Washing your hands reduces your risk of transmitting and contracting harmful bacteria from other people and the environment.
SDI Productions/E+ via Getty Images
Using a mathematical model, researchers found that good hygiene can reduce the harmful effects of antibiotic use.
Maybe the first life on Earth was part of an ‘RNA world.’
Artur Plawgo/Science Photo Library via Getty Images
Fossil evidence of how the earliest life on Earth came to be is hard to come by. But scientists have come up with a few theories based on the microbes, viruses and prions existing today.
Artificial intelligence can be used to develop new drugs, quickly and cheaply.
(Shutterstock)
Bacterial infections are a growing global challenge. This is due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and researchers are turning to AI to develop new drugs.
Communal bathing can get pretty disgusting.
monic zrivoic/Shutterstock
Relaxing in filth – you may never want to use a hot tub again after reading this.
Sunset over New Zealand from the ocean sampling voyage.
Guy Shelley/Monash University
In the deep, dark ocean, sunlight-deprived bacteria turn to different sources of energy: dissolved hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
You can change your gut microbiome composition by eating different foods.
wildpixel/iStock via Getty Images
Cancer cells are ‘cheaters’ that do not cooperate with the rest of the body. Certain microbes in your diet can either protect against or promote tumor formation by influencing cell cooperation.
Shutterstock
Early treatment with antibiotics can be life-saving.
Red mitochondria in airway cells become coated with green SARS-COV-2 proteins after viral infection: Researchers discovered that the virus that causes COVID-19 damages lungs by attacking mitochondria.
(Stephen Archer)
COVID-19 causes lung injury and lowers oxygen levels in patients because the SARS-CoV-2 virus attacks cells’ mitochondria. This attack is a throwback to a primitive war between viruses and bacteria.
Prokaryotes are single-celled organisms without nuclei and are commonly known as bacteria.
Ichigomaru/Shutterstock
A new ‘rule book’ for naming genomically sequenced bacteria is a boon for science.
Rheumatoid arthritis leads to painful joint inflammation, often in the hands and wrists.
Peter Dazeley/The Image Bank via Getty Images
A new species of bacteria that doesn’t normally live in the gut may trigger an immune response so strong that it spreads to the joints.
Shutterstock
Urine therapies have been used across cultures for millennia (notably at times when modern medical alternatives weren’t available). Do they still have a place today?
As a material, bacteria’s ability to rapidly multiply and adapt to different conditions is an asset.
Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library via Getty Images
The walls of your house could someday be built with living bacteria. Synthetic biologists are engineering microbes into living materials that are cheap and sustainable.
The pumpkin on the right has a fungal disease known as black rot.
Matt Kasson
Don’t let microbes and insects turn your Halloween masterpiece into a horror show before the big night.
Phages can sense bacterial DNA damage, which triggers them to replicate and jump ship.
Design Cells/iStock via Getty Images Plus
Phages, or viruses that infect bacteria, can lie dormant within chromosomes until they’re triggered to replicate and burst out of their hosts.
Phanie / Alamy Stock Photo
Food safety experts explain the risks of turning the fridge temperature up (or even turning the fridge off) to save energy.
There have been reports of extensive blooms of blue-green algae on Lake Windermere this summer.
Sergey Muhlynin/Shutterstock
Windermere has seen extensive algal blooms, attracting attention over its ecological consequences. But this is nothing new.
Investigators in Florida traced a listeria outbreak to ice cream.
Graiki/Moment via Getty Images
Listeria causes serious illness and food recalls nearly every year.