microbes

Microbes turn heat up on groundwater cleanup

harminka — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:49:53 -0500

CSIRO researchers have discovered that micro-organisms that help break down contaminants under the soil can actually get too hot for their own good.

Phthalic Symbol of Pollution is Broken Down by microbes

harminka — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:07:11 -0500

Immobilized microbes can break down potentially harmful phthalates, according to researchers in China, writing in the International Journal of Environment and Pollution. The microbes might be used to treat industrial waste water and so prevent these materials from entering the environment.

Microbes turn electricity directly to methane

harminka — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:50:17 -0500

A tiny microbe can take electricity and directly convert carbon dioxide and water to methane, producing a portable energy source with a potentially neutral carbon footprint, according to a team of Penn State engineers.

Comparison of microbial communities offers clues to body weight differences

harminka — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:33:37 -0600

In terms of diversity and sheer numbers, the microbes occupying the human gut easily dwarf the billions of people inhabiting the Earth. Numbering in the tens of trillions and representing many thousands of distinct genetic families, this microbiome, as it's called, helps the body perform a variety of regulatory and digestive functions, many still poorly understood.

Understanding extinct microbes may influence state of modern human health

harminka — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:56:14 -0600

The study of ancient microbes may not seem consequential, but such pioneering research at the University of Oklahoma has implications for the state of modern human health. Cecil Lewis, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology, says results of this research raise questions about the microbes living on and within people.

Unusual microbial ropes grow slowly in cave lake

harminka — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 02:53:19 -0600

Deep inside the Frasassi cave system in Italy and more than 1,600 feet below the Earth's surface, divers found filamentous ropes of microbes growing in the cold water, according to a team of Penn State researchers.

Escherichia coli bacteria transferring between humans and mountain gorillas

harminka — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:33:34 -0600

A new study finds that mountain gorillas are at increased risk of acquiring gastrointestinal microbes, such as Escherichia Coli, from humans. The study, published in Conservation Biology, examines the exchange of digestive system bacteria between humans, mountain gorillas and domestic animals with overlapping habitats.

Plants can signal microbial friends for help

harminka — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:33:42 -0500

Researchers at the University of Delaware have discovered that when the leaf of a plant is under attack by a pathogen, it can send out an S.O.S. to the roots for help, and the roots will respond by secreting an acid that brings beneficial bacteria to the rescue.

Microbe diet key to carbon dioxide release

harminka — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:27:24 -0500

As microbes in the soil break down fallen plant matter, a diet "balanced" in nutrients appears to help control soil fertility and the normal release of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Symbiotic microbes induce profound genetic changes in their hosts

harminka — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:47:39 -0500

Though bacteria are everywhere — from the air we breathe and the food we eat to our guts and skin — the vast majority are innocuous or even beneficial, and only a handful pose any threat to us. What distinguishes a welcome microbial guest from an unwanted intruder?

Studying little-known but largely useful microbes

harminka — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:53:08 -0500

Montana State University microbiologist Matthew Fields spends his days trying to understand how interactions on a microscopic scale could change how we think of energy production, climate change and even soil contamination.

Microbes beneath sea floor genetically distinct

harminka — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:39:51 -0500

Tiny microbes beneath the sea floor, distinct from life on the Earth's surface, may account for one-tenth of the Earth's living biomass, according to an interdisciplinary team of researchers, but many of these minute creatures are living on a geologic timescale.