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Microbiology

showing 11-15 of 53 breaks

Engineering bacteria to save honey bees

Humans have kept honey bees for millennia, and scientists love to study them because of their unique societies (80,000 bees can live and work together in a single hive!) and communication (they exchange information by "dancing"). Honey bees also help produce much of the food... click to read more

  • Sean Leonard | Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, US
  • Nancy Moran | Professor at Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, US
Views 6156
Reading time 3.5 min
published on Feb 11, 2021
The inanimate building-blocks for a living synthetic cell

In the field of "bottom-up" synthetic biology, we aim to build lifelike systems from inanimate building blocks. From this approach, we hope to gain deeper insights into the fundamental processes of life and develop new technological innovations. One such significant and possibly the most remarkable... click to read more

  • Kai Libicher | PhD student at Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Martinsried, Germany
  • Hannes Mutschler | Professor at Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Martinsried, Germany
Views 4042
Reading time 3.5 min
published on Dec 22, 2020
How nanosized shrapnel from exploding fungal cells may impact us: from allergies to cloud formation

Invisible to the naked eye, we are almost always surrounded by small particles suspended in the air. They are known as atmospheric aerosols and can be made of directly emitted particles like dust, sea salt, and viruses; or formed in the atmosphere out of molecules... click to read more

  • Michael J. Lawler | Assistant Project Scientist at University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, United States
Views 4617
Reading time 3.5 min
published on Nov 5, 2020
A newly discovered (microscopic) global source of methane

The average temperature on Earth rose dramatically during the last century. This is due to human activity, which led to the increased atmospheric concentration of certain gases, typically called greenhouse gases. These gases increase the solar heat trapped by our planet. The greenhouse gas methane... click to read more

  • Mina Bizic | Research Scientist at Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Alte Fischerhütte 2, D-16775 Stechlin, Germany
  • Thomas Klintzsch | PhD Student at Institute of Earth Sciences, Biogeochemistry Group, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
  • Danny Ionescu | Research Scientist at 1Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Alte Fischerhütte 2, D-16775 Stechlin, Germany
Views 4339
Reading time 3.5 min
published on Oct 30, 2020
Ouch, that needle hurts! How some viruses inject their DNA

Bacteriophage T4 is one of the most common of the viruses that infects Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria that serve as the hosts. To accomplish this feat, phage T4 employs a fascinating nano-scale injection machine to first rupture the host's cell membrane and then inject... click to read more

  • Ameneh Maghsoodi | Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
  • Ioan Andricioaei | Associate Professor at University of California, Irvine, California, USA
  • Noel Perkins | Professor at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Views 4243
Reading time 3.5 min
published on Sep 25, 2020