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Seafloor Zombie Microbes May Look Like Exo-Organisms
2008-07-22 15:35:00 From Wired Top Stories: Deep below the sea floor live massive colonies of primitive microbes. Almost like one-celled zombies, these microbes use so little energy that it might be more accurate to call them undead rather than alive. Yet scientists think that the species might
Continuous Monitoring of Microbes
2008-02-01 18:36:00 how can we keep constant eye on the presence/ monitoring of microbes presence/absence in intravenous solutions with the help of a proper electronic dvice to maintain highest standards of iv solutions.
Microbes in hot springs might help in dating of sedimentary rocks
2008-01-23 09:44:00 A new research by scientists has discovered that microbes present in hot water springs might help in the dating of sedimentary rocks. For the research, scientists studied microbial communities and the growth of sedimentary rocks at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park, US. “We found microbes change the rate at which calcium carbonate precipitates, and that rate controls the chemistry and shape of calcium carbonate crystals,” said Bruce Fouke, a professor of geology and of molecular and cellular biology at the University of Illinois. A form of sedimentary rock, calcium carbonate is the most abundant mineral precipitated on the surface of Earth, and a great recorder of life. The researchers’ findings imply changes in calcium carbonate mineralization rates in the rock record may have resulted from changes in local microbial biomass concentrations throughout geologic history. “As calcium carbonate is deposited, it le...
By: B4U India
Paired Microbes Eliminate Methane Using Sulfur Pathway
2008-01-23 05:00:00 Anaerobic microbes in the Earth's oceans consume 90 percent of the methane produced by methane hydrates -- methane trapped in ice -- preventing large amounts of methane from reaching the atmosphere। Researchers now have evidence that the two microbes that accomplish this feat do not simply reverse the way methane-producing microbes work, but use a sulfur compound instead. "The dominant role anaerobic oxidation of methane plays in regulating marine methane makes it a significant component of the global methane and carbon cycles," the researchers report in the current issue of Environmental Microbiology. "Its importance in these cycles highlights the need to close gaps in the current understanding of the specific interaction between the microbial groups that work in concert to mediate anaerobic oxidation of methane."In this case, the microbial consortia consist of an Archaea -- a single cell organism -- that consumes methane for energy and bacteria that reduce sulfates to obtain en...
Thinking Microbes
2007-12-10 20:05:00 Cognition is a term frequently used in several loosely related ways to refer to a faculty for the human-like processing of information. Signal transduction networks certainly fit that bill, as the mediate adaptive changes in gene expression to specific sensory inputs. Melinda Baker and Jeffry Stock, in the recent issue of Current Biology, ...
Microbes Mop Up
2007-12-01 14:26:00 How do you reduce the time needed to remediate a perchloroethylene plume beneath an old landfill site from 35 to 5 years, and slash costs from $30 million to $5 million? Use elbow grease, hydrogen peroxide, iron, and bacteria. Or do what the USGS did at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, GA: inject Fen
Microbes become stronger in space.
2007-11-10 03:46:00 In an attempt to determine how microbes feel in space, the scientists sent Salmonella in flight on Atlantis, in September, 2006. It turned out that mice, which were given the food contaminated with space salmonella, three times more often were sick and died faster than their counterparts, fed with ...
By: Pharma Blog
Is Obesity Related to Gut Microbes?
2007-10-22 19:32:00 Gut microbes may represent valuable clues to determine the cause and treatment of obesity. Trillions of gut microbes break down complex molecules into simple sugars for energy and the excess is transformed into fat for long term storage. This is the subject of a study conducted at Washington University School of Medicine, which shows that the ...
Microbes Rule!
2007-09-26 05:36:00 How many of you know what happens to the human body when it's subjected to the weightlessness of high Earth orbit? Well, to put it simply, the body actually starts to whither. It's not a quick process, and certainly not one that would prevent us from shipping people long distances in the solar system, but there is a noticeable effect on the immune system when astronauts return to Earth after a considerable stint in space. It's similar to AIDS. Your body has cells called T-cells, which have these little receptors whose job it is to basically tell other cells there is an infection in that particular cell. When someone is infected with AIDS, those receptors stop working. This is permanent in AIDS, obviously. So, when the body gets a cold, the cells don't know how to fight it because it seems to be replicating itself at such an alarming rate, which is true. Your body is no longer fighting the infection, basically.Now, being in space is much the same, except that the effects ...
Microbes from human wastes result in beach closures
2007-08-10 12:43:00 Just when you thought it was safer to stay out of the water। Microbes that result in beach closures and health advisories when detected at unsafe levels in the ocean also have been detected in the sand, according to a recent study by a team of Stanford scientists.Published in the July 1 issue of Environmental Science and Technology, the study found that sand at beaches all along the California coast contained some level of fecal indicator bacteria। Moreover, when the researchers looked closely at the sand quality at a popular beach in Monterey, Calif., they found evidence of human waste-raising doubt about the commonly held belief that some fecal indictor bacteria occur naturally in the sand and are therefore benign.The team was led by Alexandria Boehm, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, and included Kevan Yamahara, Blythe Layton and Alyson Santoro, all graduate students in Boehm's lab and co-authors of the study. They collected samples of s...
Microbes At Work Cleaning Up The Environment
2007-06-16 13:50:00 It may sound counterintuitive to use a microbial protein to improve water quality। But some bacteria are doing just that to protect themselves from potentially toxic nanoparticles in their own environments, and clean up crews of the future could potentially do the same thing on a larger scale.A team from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that bacteria from an abandoned mine excrete proteins that cause metal nanoparticles to aggregate. The bacteria are binding and immobilizing the metals in the nanoparticles and the nanoparticles themselves, which are potentially toxic to the bacteria.Sulfate-reducing bacteria can cause heavy metals such as zinc (Zn) to precipitate and form nanoparticles. However, these particles are able to move freely because they are so small (typically 2-6 nanometers in diameter) and can redissolve if conditions change.In the case of the mine bacteria, the researchers showed that the bacteria are...
I love GIANTmicrobes!
2007-05-06 05:02:00 Ever since I saw these at my sister-in-law's house I fell in love with them! And then for the holidays I received a bed bug and it's been the most coveted of my stuffed animals by the kids. I was thrilled to see that they had an affiliate program so I could put these cuties right in my sidebar. Go buy some for your favorite hypochondriac or germ-obsessed friends. (No, I'm not getting sponsored for this post... I just love them!).
By: mommy bytes
Penn State uses microbes to power new fuel cell
2007-03-26 15:58:00 Filed under: Emerging Technologies There are many of you out there who are adamant that hydrogen will never be a viable option as a fuel for anything. While hydrogen is the most common energy source for fuel cells, there is nothing magical about the most common element in the known universe that makes it the only ...
Microbes Tapped to Harden Shaky Ground
2007-02-28 19:13:02 From Discovery News: A microbe that turns soil into stone may be able to stiffen up the ground under buildings and make them saf...
Microbes Switched to Oxygen 2.72 Billion Years Ago
2006-10-17 20:45:02 Scientists have known for a while that the Earth's atmosphere switched rather quickly from very little oxygen to near our current levels around 2.4 bi... |
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