Could your home one day be powered by patches of mushrooms? Probably not, but scientists have nonetheless created a "bionic mushroom" that does indeed generate electricity – and it may pave the way for more practical bio-electric systems.
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To peer back in time at certain key steps of evolution, scientists at the Scripps Research Institute have engineered synthetic microorganisms designed to be similar to some that might have lived billions of years ago.
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A new study has now found that a healthier gut microbiome can help premature babies grow faster, reducing or potentially preventing a lifetime of chronic health problems.
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Promising results from a phase 2 human trial into the efficacy of a novel new antibiotic is giving hope to scientists desperate to find a new weapon against the growing global threat of antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
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Water used for hand-washing is relatively easy to treat for reuse, and now engineers at ETH Zurich have built and tested a standalone hand-washing station for use in public places and developing countries that can do just that.
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Bacteria continue to evolve resistance to our best drugs, but probiotics help keep bad bugs at bay. Now, MIT researchers have found a way to combine probiotics and antibiotic drugs into an uneasy alliance that seems to work better than either treatment alone.
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Superbugs are evolving to outfox even our very best medicines, presenting a real and emerging danger to humans in every corner of the globe. A new study has explored how they develop in newborns in particular, and how a mother’s breastmilk might help fend them off.
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A cheap new diagnostic test from researchers at UC Berkeley promises to effectively identify antibiotic-resistant bacteria in just minutes from a urine sample. The test is currently being commercialized with a view on rolling it out into hospital and clinical settings as soon as possible.
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Maintaining the right microbial balance is crucial to your health, but antibiotics and poor diet have reduced the diversity of human microbiota. To preserve that diversity before it’s gone for good, a team of scientists is now calling for the creation of a microbial “Noah’s Ark.”
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The 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to three scientists who tapped into evolution to produce vital chemicals. It was awarded to Frances H. Arnold for directing the evolution of enzymes, and to George P. Smith and Sir Gregory P. Winter, who manipulated phages to create new antibodies.
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