An international team of scientists has discovered an enzyme that converts air into energy, using the low amounts of hydrogen in the atmosphere to create an electrical current. Their breakthrough, published in the journal Nature, opens the way to create devices that literally make energy from thin air. The research …
Read More »USDA Approves World’s First Vaccine for Honeybees
The generational immunity treatment aims to counter the deadly American Foulbrood disease The US Department of Agriculture has granted a conditional license to the first-ever vaccine for bees, Dalan Animal Health announced on Wednesday. The Athens, Georgia-based company has developed an oral prophylactic they hope will be effective against a …
Read More »WHO report exposes rising human resistance to antibiotics
Antimicrobial resistance increases chances of death, undermines modern medicine, says WHO chief A new World Health Organization report Friday revealed high levels of resistance in bacteria, causing life-threatening bloodstream infections and increasing resistance to treatment in several bacteria causing common infections. The WHO said that for the first time, the …
Read More »Drug-resistant infections kill 35,000 people each year in Europe
Drug-resistant ailments kill 35,000 people a year in Europe, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which called for the responsible use of antibiotics and antivirals to help fight the rising threat. The health impact of the phenomenon is comparable to that of influenza, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS …
Read More »Mosquito hack cuts dengue fever by 77%
Dengue fever cases have been cut by 77% in a “groundbreaking” trial that manipulates the mosquitoes that spread it, say scientists. They used mosquitoes infected with “miraculous” bacteria that reduce the insect’s ability to spread dengue. The trial took place in Yogyakarta city, Indonesia, and is being expanded in the …
Read More »Bacteria in 100-Million-Year-Old Seafloor Sediment Have Been Resuscitated
In 2010 scientists from the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) sailed into the South Pacific Gyre, a marine desert more barren than all but the most arid places on Earth. Near the center of the gyre is the Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility—best known by fans of H. P. Lovecraft as …
Read More »Opinion: How to oppose the menace of antimicrobial resistance
Despite its magnitude, lack of access to antibiotics is a largely overlooked public health issue. 5.7 million people, including 1 million children, are dying annually from antibiotic-treatable conditions because they cannot access the necessary antibiotics in time. When I worked as a front-line doctor in South Sudan, I saw firsthand …
Read More »Metal-munching bacteria devouring Titanic’s remains & turning wreck to dust.
An army of microbes is munching through the Titanic wreck, a rare dive has revealed. The famous ship has deteriorated since it was last visited, and will soon disappear entirely as it’s subsumed into the Atlantic Ocean. Deep ocean explorers recently visited the famous ship’s wreck, the first crewed dive …
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