Tag Archives: bacteria

Tracking the Daily Microbiome

Humans are essentially 90% bacteria. These bacteria pepper our skin and hang out in our digestive tracts, helping to break down complex carbohydrates and keeping bad bugs in check. We know how the human microbiome (our collection of bacteria) gets … Continue reading

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Watching it Burn: Soil Microbes vs. Wildfires

Wildfires can devastate ecosystems across the world. In 2012, over 67,000 wildfires raced across more than 9 million acres of land in the US alone. Fuelled by wind and parched vegetation, wildfires burn through everything in their path: plants don’t … Continue reading

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Swimming with Viruses

You can find viruses everywhere: in the soil, in the clouds and in animals. According to scientists from the University of Oldenburg in Germany, there are also a ridiculous number of viruses buried at sea, in the sediments of the … Continue reading

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Posted in Bacteria, Ecology, Marine, Microorganisms, Science, Viruses | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Antibiotics release death sugars that help bad bugs to grow

In the 1940’s, antibiotics were hailed as wonder drugs. “Syphilis is now curable!”, ran the posters. Yet in modern times, several dark sides of these drugs have come to light. The widespread overuse of antibiotic therapy has driven the emergence … Continue reading

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Pumping out Petrol with Bioengineered Bugs

One of the terribly tricky questions in this ol’ world of ours is how to sustain a species that likes to extract toxic crude oil from the ground and use it in a way that’s disturbingly damaging to the environment … Continue reading

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Posted in Bacteria, Bioengineering, Genetics, Microorganisms, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment