A study that investigated bacterial populations on hotel room surfaces found television remote controls and housekeeping carts to be amongst the most heavily contaminated items. The researchers behind the work, from the University of Houston, reported their findings yesterday at the 2012 General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. The study adds some empirical […]
The bacterium Sutterella was found to be present at remarkably high levels in the gastrointestinal tracts of children with autism and scientists at Columbia University are pondering what the connection might be. The intriguing study, published in the journal mBio, notes that children with autism frequently have gastrointestinal problems, but the underlying reason that autism […]
The discovery of a strikingly large number ofFusobacterium cells in colorectal tumor samples has prompted researchers to consider that the bacteria primarily found in dental plaque may play a role in causing colon cancer. The researchers, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute, have published their findings in the journal Genome Research. Details […]
British poo boffins say that one-in-six of the cell phones they analyzed was contaminated with fecal matter and E. coli bacteria. The findings, say the researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Queen Mary, University of London, indicate that many people are failing to wash their hands properly with soap after […]
Microbiologists from the University of Colorado Boulder were surprised to find that the dominant airborne bacterial communities of several American cities most closely resembled the microbial communities found in dog poop. The study showed that of the four Midwestern cities sampled in the experiment, Cleveland and Detroit had significant quantities of fecal bacteria in the […]
Bioprecipitation researchers say that most precipitation events could depend on a type of bacterium whose outer membrane binds water molecules in an ordered arrangement, thus providing a very efficient nucleating template which greatly enhances ice crystal formation. The new evidence for airborne microorganisms influencing weather events was presented yesterday at the 111th General Meeting of […]
Communication between the bacteria in our gut and our brain plays an important role in the development of psychiatric illness, say McMaster University researchers who are investigating how new psychiatric drugs might directly target intestinal flora. McMaster neuroscientist Jane Foster contends that this brain-bacteria “cross-talk” plays an important role in the development of psychiatric illness, […]
NASA scientist Richard B. Hoover has sparked controversy with claims that he has identified bacterial microfossils in several meteorites. If proved correct, the implications are that life is common throughout the universe, and that life on Earth may have come from other planets. Hoover’s paper is set to be published in The Journal of Cosmology […]
In a discovery that has implications for our understanding of natural selection, Tel Aviv University scientists have shown that symbiotic bacteria can greatly influence a host body’s choice of mate. The research, carried out by Eugene Rosenberg, Daniel Segel and Gil Sharon of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, appears in the […]
Cigarettes are “widely contaminated” with bacteria known to be harmful to humans, claims a new study inEnvironmental Health Perspectives. And, according to the researchers, some of the organisms identified are resilient enough to survive the burning process. The study, conducted by a University of Maryland (UM) environmental health researcher and microbial ecologists at the Ecole […]
