“Intraterrestrial” life found in rocks below the seafloor.
The discovery that ancient rocks harbored microbial life deep below the seafloor confirms a long-standing hypothesis that interactions between mantle…
High-fat intake could trigger psychiatric disorders
High-fat diets have long been known to increase the risk for heart disease and stroke, but there is new evidence…
DNA of bacteria that live in the body passed from mother to child
Traits such as eye color and height are passed from one generation to the next through the parents’ DNA, right?…
Gut flora link to Parkinson’s disease
Medical researchers in Finland hope that their discovery of a significant variation in the gut microbiota of Parkinson’s sufferers could…
Hand dryers worse than paper towels for spreading germs
Scientists from the University of Leeds (UK) have discovered that airborne germ counts are 27 times higher around air dryers…
Space station experiment identifies microbes that can survive unprotected in space
Scientists conducting a series of experiments on the International Space Station say that some micro-organisms can survive for long periods…
Obesity could be an evolutionary hangover from prehistoric gut bacteria
Today, obesity is considered to be undesirable, but in the past getting more fat and more energy from the diet…
Foodborne bacteria may be trigger for multiple sclerosis
A study presented at the 2014 American Society for Microbiology meeting adds to the growing body of evidence that multiple…
Customizing animal scents to manipulate animal behaviors
Animals’ scent posts may seem to be simply stinky, but new molecular surveys show they actually convey a veritable encyclopedia…
Significant bacterial populations found in upper atmosphere
Using a DC-8 aircraft to scoop-up air samples from the troposphere, scientists have identified significant numbers of living microorganisms –…
TV remotes a bacterial cocktail
A study that investigated bacterial populations on hotel room surfaces found television remote controls and housekeeping carts to be amongst…
Researchers mull bacterium’s link to autism
The bacterium Sutterella was found to be present at remarkably high levels in the gastrointestinal tracts of children with autism…
Oral bacteria linked to colon cancer
The discovery of a strikingly large number ofFusobacterium cells in colorectal tumor samples has prompted researchers to consider that the…
Londoners lead in cell phone crap stakes
British poo boffins say that one-in-six of the cell phones they analyzed was contaminated with fecal matter and E. coli…
Atmospheric analysis yields dog poop surprise
Microbiologists from the University of Colorado Boulder were surprised to find that the dominant airborne bacterial communities of several American…
Bacteria make rain, bioprecipitation researchers say
Bioprecipitation researchers say that most precipitation events could depend on a type of bacterium whose outer membrane binds water molecules…
Novel psychiatric drugs aimed at gut bacteria
Communication between the bacteria in our gut and our brain plays an important role in the development of psychiatric illness,…
Discoverer of alien bacteria says life probably exists “everywhere”
NASA scientist Richard B. Hoover has sparked controversy with claims that he has identified bacterial microfossils in several meteorites. If…
Mating choices driven by bacteria?
In a discovery that has implications for our understanding of natural selection, Tel Aviv University scientists have shown that symbiotic…
Popular cigarette brands loaded with bacteria
Cigarettes are “widely contaminated” with bacteria known to be harmful to humans, claims a new study inEnvironmental Health Perspectives. And,…
Showerheads delivering a pathogen payload
Bathroom showers can deliver a face-full of potentially pathogenic bacteria, suggests a surprising new University of Colorado at Boulder study.…
Microbe Colonies Show Sophisticated Learning Behaviors
Microbes may be smarter than we think, at least that’s according to Princeton University researchers who have shown for the…
Organics Shaping Up As Next Wave In Digital Signal Processing
Fungi, E. Coli, DNA: meet the newest tools for digital signal processing. At least, that’s according to Northwestern University computer…
Bacterial Rainmakers Ubiquitous
Scientists from Montana State University and Louisiana State University have found evidence that globally distributed airborne bacteria play a pivotal…
Pimped Bacterium Churns Out Hydrogen
Thomas Wood, a professor in Texas A&M University’s chemical engineering department, has “tweaked” a strain of E. coli so that…
Prof Pooh-Poohs Western World’s Anti-Bacterial Crusade
Society’s anti-bacterial crusade makes children and adults more likely to develop asthma and allergies – and perhaps even mental illnesses,…
Super Bacteria Created In Zero-Gravity
Space flight doesn’t just affect human physiology; it can also make microbes much more infectious, researchers from the Biodesign Institute…
Bacterial Accumulation Doesn’t Appear To Impact Longevity
Investigating the aging process in flies, researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) have established that while older flies…
Dung Critter Lifts Mood
Scientists from the University of Bristol and University College London have found that treating mice with soil bacteria altered their…
Bacterial Swimming Style Goes Against The Flow
The fact that some pathogenic bacteria swim “to the left” could explain the high incidence of infections associated with catheters…