Engineered microbes found to repel mosquitoes
Genetically-engineered human skin bacteria can make mice less attractive to mosquitoes for 11 days. Mosquitoes transmit a host of deadly diseases, including malaria, West Nile, dengue, yellow fever, and Zika. Female mosquitoes on the hunt for a blood.....»»
Natural biosurfactants: The future of eco-friendly meat preservation
A recent study has unveiled the potential of biosurfactants—natural compounds produced by microbes—to dramatically improve the preservation of meat products. This innovative approach could replace synthetic chemicals, enhancing food safety and qu.....»»
Global warming may boost mosquito habitats, study finds
A research team at Los Alamos National Laboratory is using computer models to simulate how climate change could expand the geographical range in which mosquitoes live, which may cause an increase in mosquito-borne illness. The study was recently publ.....»»
New mirror that can be flexibly shaped improves X-ray microscopes
A team of researchers in Japan has engineered a mirror for X-rays that can be flexibly shaped, resulting in remarkable precision at the atomic level and increased stability......»»
The 2024 Acura ZDX Type-S: This electric SUV feels polished but heavy
It's a badge-engineered Ultium EV, but Acura is responsible for all the software. Enlarge / When fitted with the optional carbon-fiber appearance pack, the ZDX manages to give off station wagon vibes. But others thought it looked.....»»
Archaea can be "picky eaters": Study shows a group of parasitic microbes can change host metabolism
A parasite that not only feeds off its host, but also makes the host change its own metabolism and thus biology: NIOZ microbiologists Su Ding and Joshua Hamm, Nicole Bale, Jaap Damsté and Anja Spang have shown this for the very first time in a speci.....»»
Sourdough under the microscope reveals microbes cultivated over generations
Sourdough is the oldest kind of leavened bread in recorded history, and people have been eating it for thousands of years. The components of creating a sourdough starter are very simple—flour and water. Mixing them produces a live culture where yea.....»»
Activity in a room stirs up nanoparticles left over from consumer sprays, study shows
Common household products containing nanoparticles—grains of engineered material so miniscule they are invisible to the eye—could be contributing to a new form of indoor air pollution, according to a Rutgers University study......»»
How polyps of the moon jellyfish repel viral attacks on their microbiome
Bacteriophages, or phages for short, are viruses that infect bacteria and kill them through a lysis process. Phages can kill bacteria on or in a multicellular host organism, such as the polyp of the moon jellyfish. Phages specialize in specific bacte.....»»
Engineered increase in mesophyll conductance improves photosynthetic efficiency in field trial
It is possible to engineer increased mesophyll conductance in plants according to new research from the University of Illinois. Mesophyll conductance plays a key role in photosynthesis and refers to the ease with which CO2 can diffuse through a leaf'.....»»
Bacteria "nanowires" could help develop green electronics
Engineered protein filaments originally produced by bacteria have been modified by scientists to conduct electricity. In a study published recently in the journal Small, researchers revealed that protein nanowires—which were modified by adding a si.....»»
Barley plants fine-tune their root microbial communities through sugary secretions
Different types of barley recruit distinct communities of soil microbes to grow around their roots by releasing a custom mix of sugars and other compounds, according to a new study led by Jacob Malone of the John Innes Center, UK, published in the op.....»»
Scientists replace fishmeal in aquaculture with microbial protein derived from soybean processing wastewater
Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and Temasek Polytechnic have successfully replaced half of the fishmeal protein in the diets of farmed Asian seabass with a "single cell protein" cultivated from microbes in.....»»
Can climate change accelerate transmission of malaria? New research sheds light on impacts of temperature
Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite that spreads from bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. If left untreated in humans, malaria can cause severe symptoms, health complications and even death......»»
Doctors Combined a Heart Pump and Pig Kidney Transplant in Breakthrough Surgery
In the first procedure of its kind, a 54-year-old New Jersey woman received a genetically engineered pig kidney and thymus after getting a heart pump......»»
Bacteria for climate-neutral chemicals of the future
Researchers at ETH Zurich have engineered bacteria in the laboratory to efficiently use methanol. The metabolism of these bacteria can now be tapped into to produce valuable products currently made by the chemical industry from fossil fuels......»»
A new method for enzymatic synthesis of potential RNA therapeutics
A team of researchers at IOCB Prague led by Prof. Michal Hocek has developed a novel method for preparing ribonucleic acid (RNA) containing modified bases. Innovative use of engineered DNA polymerases, enzymes commonly used for the synthesis of DNA,.....»»
Arboviruses, mosquitoes and potential hosts tracked in real time in São Paulo city
The technology used to sequence SARS-CoV-2 at record speed early in the COVID-19 pandemic has been successfully tested as a technique to monitor arboviruses and diseases transmitted mainly by mosquitoes......»»
Discovery of bacterial proteins that induce asexual reproduction in insects
From microbes in the human gut to symbiotic algae in coral reefs, research in recent decades has increasingly revealed the pivotal roles that microorganisms (or microbial species) play in shaping the biology of host organisms and of broader ecosystem.....»»
Scientists discover how soil microbes survive in harsh desert environments
Prolonged droughts followed by sudden bursts of rainfall—how do desert soil bacteria manage to survive such harsh conditions? This long-debated question has now been answered by an ERC project led by microbiologist Dagmar Woebken from the Centre fo.....»»
Coral reef microbes point to new way to assess ecosystem health
A new study shows that ocean acidification is changing the mix of microbes in coral reef systems, which can be used to assess ecosystem health......»»