Microbes
- Agriculture
Sneaky! Virus sickens plants, but helps them multiply
The cucumber mosaic virus helps tomato plants lure pollinators. When the plants multiply, the virus now gets new hosts.
- Health & Medicine
U.S. to outlaw antibacterial soaps
Soaps with germ-killing compounds promise cleaner hands. But manufacturers couldn’t show they offer any safety advantage. Now the U.S. government is banning them.
By Helen Thompson and Janet Raloff - Microbes
Staph infections? The nose knows how to fight them
Bacteria living in some people’s noses make a compound that could help fight a nasty type of infection that laughs at other antibiotics.
By Eva Emerson - Health & Medicine
Zika vaccines look promising
As a Zika epidemic surges through Brazil and northward, scientists are looking for drugs to keep more people from becoming infected. Several vaccines show promise in early tests — but none has yet been tried in people.
By Meghan Rosen - Microbes
This microbe thinks plastic is dinner
The bacterium Ideonella sakaiensis chows down on one type of polluting plastics. That means it could become helpful in cleaning up environmental waste.
- Health & Medicine
Newly discovered microbe keeps teeth healthy
A newfound bacterium halts the tooth erosion that leads to cavities. This germ or one like it might one day be added to toothpaste or mouthwash.
- Genetics
Genes: How few needed for life?
Scientists rebuilt a microbe using its old genes. But not all of them. They used as few building-blocks as they could get away with and still have the life-form survive.
- Microbes
Microbes mine treasure from waste
Like miniature factories, bioreactors house microbes recruited to chew through wastes to clean dirty water, make chemicals or generate electricity.
- Tech
Plastic that mimics insect wings kills bacteria
A new ‘antibiotic’ plastic uses nanotechnology to mimic the hairs on insect wings. Then ouch! Bacterial cells that land on it end up stabbing themselves to death.
- Microbes
Missing gut bacteria linked to poor nutrition in children
The right mix of microbes in the gut could help prevent — or treat — malnutrition in children.
By Meghan Rosen - Environment
Gulf oil spills could destroy shipwrecks faster
In the Gulf of Mexico, leftover crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill may be speeding the corrosion of old shipwrecks.
- Microbes
Powered by poop and pee?
Scientists are developing methods to not only remove human waste from wastewater, but also to harness the energy hidden within it.