Microbiology, features and articles | Educational Science

Apr 26, 2017

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Linked with Differences in Gut Bacteria

People with chronic fatigue syndrome may have imbalances in their gut bacteria, a new study suggests. The study found that people with chronic fatigue syndrome had higher levels of certain gut bacteria and lower levels of others compared to healthy people who didn't have the condition. The researchers then checked...

May 24, 2017

New Map Tracks Germs' Travels Around Hospitals

In the first study of its kind, researchers have conducted a yearlong survey of the bacteria in a newly constructed hospital, starting two months before the facility opened and continuing over the next 10 months. Initial results of the Hospital Microbiome Project, published today (May 24) in the journal Science...

Sep 7, 2017

Secret Vatican Manuscript's Mysterious Purple Spots Decoded

Loricatus' story is known today because the villagers near his cave petitioned for his sainthood on a 16-foot-long (5 meters) parchment that now resides in the Vatican Secret Archives in Vatican City. However, much of the scroll has been damaged by mysterious purple spots — and the spots are similar...

Sep 25, 2017

Some Vaginal Bacteria May Raise Risk of STDs

Certain types of vaginal bacteria may increase a woman's risk of contracting chlamydia, a new study from the Netherlands suggests. The study involved 115 healthy women ages 16 to 29; they were screened for chlamydia yearly for two consecutive years at a clinic in Amsterdam. Participants gave vaginal swab samples...

Oct 9, 2017

Bacteria Can Be Programmed to Assemble Structures from Gold Particles

This work is proof of the ability to grow a functional device starting from a single cell, said study senior author Lingchong You, a synthetic biologist at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. This process is analogous to programming a cell to grow an entire tree. Nature is full of...

Oct 12, 2017

Could Eating Poultry Raise Your Risk of UTIs?

The poultry products you buy at the grocery store may be a source of bacteria that cause urinary tract infections (UTIs) in people, a new study suggests. In the study, researchers analyzed samples of meat from grocery stores in California, as well as urine samples from patients with UTIs; the...

Oct 19, 2017

Extremely Rare Case: Man's Artificial Hip Infected with 'Rabbit Fever'

A severe pain in one man's artificial hip joint turned out to be caused by an extremely rare bacterial infection, according to a new report of the man's case. But doctors are still puzzled as to how the man got the infection in the first place. The 77-year-old man's right...

Jan 8, 2018

Woman Dies After Eating Raw Oysters: What Are Vibrio Bacteria?

A Texas woman developed a fatal infection with flesh-eating bacteria after eating raw oysters, according to news reports. The woman, Jeanette LeBlanc, went crabbing with her friends and family on the coast of Louisiana in September, according to CBS News. During the trip, LeBlanc and her friend Karen Bowers shucked...

Feb 20, 2018

These Bacteria Eat Toxic Metal, 'Poop' Gold Nuggets

Turning straw into gold is old hat: A bizarre species of bacteria practices a form of alchemy every time it breathes. The soil-living, rod-shaped bacterium Cupriavidus metallidurans is famous, biologically speaking, for being able to survive massive doses of toxic metals. Now, new research reveals that special enzymes within the...

Feb 28, 2018

America's Tallest Mountain Has a Serious Human Poop Problem

Why climb Denali? Because it's there. Why carry your poop 14,000 feet (4,200 meters) up the mountain in a glorified coffee can before casting it into a deep crevasse? Because you have to. According to a new set of waste-management regulations proposed this year, climbers who want to reach the...

Mar 27, 2018

Here's What Growing Inside Your Rubber Ducky

This will take the fun out of bath time: A new study finds that rubber ducky toys are teeming with bacteria and fungi. In the study, the researchers analyzed the microbes growing inside 19 real bath toys, taken (with permission) from households where the toys had been well-loved. The scientists...

Apr 10, 2018

Restroom Hand Dryers Are Blowing Bacteria Everywhere

If you scrub your hands after using a public toilet and then use an air blower to dry them, you could be leaving the restroom with hands that aren't as clean as you'd think. What's more, the rest of you could now be covered in assorted microbial hitchhikers, too. Restroom...

Apr 30, 2018

No, a Woman Wasn't 'Eaten Alive' By Scabies. Here's What Likely Happened.

An elderly woman in a Georgia nursing home died after reportedly being eaten alive by scabies, a skin disease caused by parasitic mites. But can these mites really kill a person? Experts say that while the mites themselves don't directly lead to death, they can set the stage for serious,...

May 17, 2018

These Volunteers Drank E. Coli-Laced Water and Got Diarrhea, for Science

Sometimes, scientists conduct experiments in lab dishes. Other times, they observe people who are already sick. And then there are times when they ask people to drink E. coli-laced water to give them traveler's diarrhea. In a new study, that was the stomach-churning task given to volunteers, who bravely downed...

Jun 1, 2018

What Caused Helen Keller to Be Deaf and Blind? An Expert Has This Theory

Helen Keller was just 19 months old in 1882 when she developed a mysterious illness that would rob her of her hearing and sight. Still, she would go on to learn to communicate through signs, as well as read, write and speak. Today, 50 years after her death on June...