SONG: I Had A Fever
SONG: “I Had A Fever”. ARTIST: grant. SOURCE:Can Microbes Encourage Altruism?,” Scientific American, 17 Jul 2017, as used in the post “Does kindness come from […]
microbiology
Does kindness come from germs? Are the better angels of our nature really a contagious infection?
Scientific American takes a cold, calculating look at research into the origins of our behavior. Just like parasites can spur suicidal behavior in certain hosts […]
Bad gut bacteria can cause high blood pressure.
Sure, it might be the salty food, but Science Daily says, based on work by the American Physiological Society, that the microbes in your intestines […]
These germs join carbon to silicon.
Nature reports on a critter in Iceland’s hot springs that binds silicon to carbon – which could lead to all sorts of weird breakthroughs: Researchers […]
Science Art: “Various Forms of Trachelomonas” (detail of “INFUSORIA”), 1883
Aren’t they the cutest little things? These are kinds of Euglena, the weird little microscopic critters that are animals with plant-like characteristics – some of […]
Virus pirates black widow venom, uses it as weapon
New Scientist reports on some information-age piracy taking place in the microscopic realm, where viruses seem to have hijacked spider venom to attack bacteria: Viruses […]
Fracking reveals new genus of bacteria.
Science Daily reports on the hitherto-unknown genus of germs dubbed “Frackibacter,” after its disrupted shale-oil habitat: The new genus is one of the 31 microbial […]
Bacteria movement could power tiny machines.
Wired is thinking big about something much, much smaller than a hamster in a wheel – powering microscopic machines with “bacterial windfarms”: The natural movement […]
Microbes that feed on electricity
Quanta Magazine introduces us to little creatures that use electricity as food: The electricity-eating microbes that the researchers were hunting for belong to a larger […]
We might have gotten MRSA on the run.
Good news from New Scientist – the so-called superbug has met its germ-killing kryptonite: These bacteria are resistant to the most widely used class of […]
Give yourself worms. Your immune system will thank you.
Scientific American finds that we really do need to get some worms to stay healthy: At one point in the not too distant past we […]
That brain-controlling cat parasite? We’ve figured out how it works….
Science Daily plunges into the fun, fun research into how toxoplasmosis pulls your strings: The parasite is Toxoplasma gondii, which has infected an estimated one […]
Science Art: Fig. 10 (Theil eines Stockes von Carchesium polypinum mit zwei Individuen), by Carl Gegenbaur,1870
This is a little critter known as Carchesium polypinum, less formally a “stalked ciliate,” an organism that forms colonies that look like teensy tinesy trees, […]
A whole new kind of antibiotic
Nature celebrates the discovery of a dirty new weapon in the war against antibiotic-resistant pathogens: An antibiotic with the ability to vanquish drug-resistant pathogens has […]
Cold weather really does help cold germs spread.
Science Daily finds the truth behind the old wives’ tale, that common cold viruses flourish in conditions cooler than body temperature – like a nose […]