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Good bacteria helps to defend your brain
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The microbes that live in your body outnumber your cells 10 to one. Recent studies suggest these tiny organisms help us digest food and maintain our immune system. Now, researchers have discovered yet another way microbes keep us healthy: They are needed for closing the blood-brain barrier, a molecular fence that shuts out pathogens and molecules that could harm the brain.
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6126 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Try dates, not honey
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While they are super sweet, syrup made from this ancient fruit has antibacterial compounds that are more effective than honey. In case you've never had it or seen it before, dates are a thick, dark brown, and super-sweet fruit used in Middle Eastern cuisine. New research suggests that date syrup contains chemical compounds that help ward off a number of bacterial infections, including those caused by Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. This was discovered after scientists inhibited the growth of these pathogens for about six hours, which researchers say is faster than manuka honey - a honey known for its antibacterial and wound healing properties. ...
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29862 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Here's what you get when you swallow seawater
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This is a single drop of seawater, magnified 25 times. The amazing image shows bacteria, worms, fish eggs, crab larva, diatoms, and much more. Think about THAT next time you swallow a mouthful of seawater.
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2760 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Quite possibly the world's most resistant bacteria
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Deinococcus radiodurans is an extremophilic bacterium, one of the most radiation-resistant organisms known. It can survive cold, dehydration, vacuum, and acid, and is therefore known as a polyextremophile and has been listed as the world's toughest bacterium in The Guinness Book Of World Records.
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5091 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Watch these white blood cells destroy this roundworm
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White bloods cells, known scientifically as leukocytes, are immune system cells that fight infect. The immune system is made up of a network of cells, tissues, and organs that work together to protect the body. Sometimes our bodies encounter pathogens like bacteria, or in this case a parasitic worm. Roundworms, or nematodes, are parasites that can infect people by living and feeding in the intestines. There are different kinds of worms that can cause infection, and they can range in length from 1 millimeter to 1 meter. Luckily, this worm was no challenge for these hungry white blood cells. ...
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5081 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Bacterial growth at -15°C
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Researchers from McGill University in Montreal have discovered a bacterium living in the frozen permafrost of the high Arctic. The permafrost bacterium, Planococcus halocryophilus strain Or1, grows and divides at -15°C and can even remain metabolically active at -25°C. This bacteria is yielding clues about how extraterrestrial organisms might endure extreme conditions - as one of the things that makes it extremely hard for life to flourish in foreboding places like Mars and the moons of Saturn is the punishing cold. ...
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3681 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Two new gigantic viruses
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Have you heard about two new gigantic viruses that have been discovered? They measure around 1 micrometer long & half that across – larger than some eukaryotic cells! Massive genomes up to 2.5 Mb (millions of base pairs) are present to match their giant size. Their discovery raises many questions on viral diversity that remains unexplored.
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2244 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
World's deadliest toxin
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The deadliest substance known to man is a recently discovered type of botulinum toxin ( botox). The scientists who discovered it haven’t found an antitoxin yet, so they have decided not to publish the gene sequence due to security concerns. The toxin comes from the bacterium Clostridium botulinum and blocks the chemical signals that makes nerves work, causing botulism and death by paralysis. The image shown above is the protein structure of botulinum toxin.
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3097 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
World's cleanest bacteria
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A bacterium previously unknown to science was found in two spacecraft clean rooms, one in Florida and the other in Guiana. Space agencies use these rooms to prepare spacecraft for launch and are considered two of the most sterile places on Earth.
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5727 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Peanut allergies could be a thing of the past
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New research from the University of Chicago in the US shows that a class of bacteria known as Clostridia can block peanut allergies in mice, and suggests it could be used to treat similar conditions in humans. Clostridia is one of the types of bacteria killed off by antibiotic use in early childhood, and this research supports the emerging theory that increased antibiotic use is one of the factors that has caused food allergies in kids to rise by 50% since 1997. Source: http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20142708-26075.html ...
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6254 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
The Midas touch
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Mythical King Midas was ultimately doomed because everything he touched turned to gold. Now, the reverse has been found in bacteria that owe their survival to a natural Midas touch. Delftia acidovorans lives in sticky biofilms that form on top of gold deposits, but exposure to dissolved gold ions can kill it. That's because although metallic gold is unreactive, the ions are toxic. To protect itself, the bacterium has evolved a chemical that detoxifies gold ions by turning them into harmless gold nanoparticles. These accumulate safely outside the bacterial cells. ...
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6433 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Radioactive bacteria
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Listeria bacteria has been enlisted by researchers to selectively infect metastatic pancreatic cancer cells and deliver radioisotopes into them. The experimental treatment dramatically decreased the number of metastases (cancers that have spread to other parts of the body) in a mouse model of highly aggressive pancreatic cancer without harming healthy tissue. Mice livers are shown above. The saline control liver on the left presents a large number of metastases compared to the liver on the right which was subject to the radioactive Listeria treatment. ...
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3141 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
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2717 |
savio |
10 years ago |
Vulnerability to tuberculosis
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If you’re not already acquainted, meet Mycobacterium tuberculosis – a wildly successful bacterium that has marched in lockstep with our population growth and history. The cause of tuberculosis, this bacterium is said to infect a new host every single second. Research lead Caitlin Pepperell from University of Wisconsin-Madison remarked, "Evolutionary theory predicts that M. tuberculosis populations should be vulnerable to extinction. Yet it is obviously highly prevalent. It must have some incredibly clever strategies and tricks to hang on." A paper published last month in PLoS Pathogens investigated 63 genomes from the bacteria and related pathogenic mycobacteria to gain insight into how natural election pressures have shaped its evolution and ...
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3404 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
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2097 |
ehd123 |
10 years ago |