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+36 +1
The Flu Virus May Affect Men Worse Than Women, Study Says
According to recent research, women may have a biological advantage over men when flu season rolls around. The study, conducted by a team from Johns Hopkins University, shows that estrogen is an effective shield against flu viral replication. Studies have shown estrogen to have antiviral effects on HIV, Ebola, and hepatitis in the past, so the team was inspired to investigate if the same is true with influenza. To test their hunch, the researchers sampled nasal cells...
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+38 +1
Human trials will test freeze-dried poop pills as a weight-loss treatment
If you want to lose weight, a new diet or gym membership sounds a whole lot better than consuming someone else's poop in pill form, but that's exactly the method researchers are about to investigate in a clinical trial that's been approved for later this year. It's not the most pleasant treatment you can imagine, but there's strong evidence that faeces is good for the microbiome environment inside our guts. Reports have shown that in some situations...
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+40 +1
Bearded men are probably more hygienic, new research finds
The trendiness of beards seems to ebb and flow depending on where in the world you are and what decade you happen to be living in, but what about the health implications of these dense patches of 'face fur'? The BBC has been investigating whether beards are actually good or bad for our health, whether you're growing one yourself or coming into contact with someone who is.
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+22 +1
All your germaphobic habits are pretty much useless
Don't want to get sick this season? Sure, you've heard the basics: carry hand sanitiser everywhere. Grab public-bathroom door handles with paper towels. Hold your breath when your unwell-looking subway seat partner starts coughing. Bad news, germaphobe - your meticulous habits likely aren't doing much to protect you. Here's a look at all the weird germ-avoidance behaviours that are probably useless.
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+8 +1
Completely new kind of polymer developed
Imagine a polymer with removable parts that can deliver something to the environment and then be chemically regenerated to function again. Or a polymer that can lift weights, contracting and expanding the way muscles do. These functions require polymers with both rigid and soft nano-sized compartments with extremely different properties that are organized in specific ways. A completely new hybrid polymer of this type has been developed...
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+48 +1
Millions could die as world unprepared for pandemics, says UN
A global epidemic far worse than the Ebola outbreak is a real possibility and could kill many millions if the world does not become better prepared to deal with the sudden emergence and transmission of disease, the UN has said in a hard-hitting report. The report has emerged in draft form, as experts rally to deal with the rapid spread of the Zika virus across Latin America, which has been linked to thousands of cases of brain damage in babies.
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+30 +1
Zika hysteria is way ahead of research into virus, says expert
Leslie Lobel says it’s unclear whether birth defects in Brazil are linked to Zika, and any panic can cause more harm than the virus itself.
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+38 +1
Scientists may have finally solved Zika's scariest mystery
Public health experts have long suspected that a spike in birth defects in Central and South America was linked to the Zika virus, but they didn't know how. Today, the picture became a little bit clearer. A team of US researchers has discovered what they believe could be the mechanism by which the mosquito-borne virus hinders brain development in unborn children. Their study finds that the virus targets the outer layer...
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+21 +1
The Bacteria That Make Perfect, Tiny Magnets
Learn how magnetic bacteria work, and how scientists think they can help technology in the future!
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+36 +1
This common bacterium grows 60% better in space than on Earth
It’s something that no one can explain right now, but scientists have found that of the 48 harmless bacteria strains they’ve been raising on the International Space Station, one has not just adapted to its new microgravity environment some 400 km above Earth - it prefers it. According to a new study, Bacillus safensis JPL-MERTA-8-2 - a strain that was first discovered on one of the Mars Exploration Rovers at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida before they...
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+38 +1
Unlocking the Mechanics of the Urinary Tract Infection
New research helps explain how bacteria send their victims running to the bathroom. By Lina Zeldovich.
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+7 +1
Neuroscientists Fight Brain Damage with Gut Microbes
Hacking the body's inflammatory immune response via the gut microbiome. By Michael Byrne.
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+27 +1
Dyson Airblades 'spread germs 1,300 times more than paper towels'
Dyson Airblade hand-driers spread 60 times more germs than standard air dryers, and 1,300 times more than standard paper towels, according to research published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology.
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+6 +1
Your City Has A Bacterial Fingerprint That's As Unique As Its Skyline
So does your officeand even your officemates.
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+37 +1
How The Bacteria In Your Gut Could Be Used To Treat Mental Illness
New research finds that altering gut bacteria in mice changes the way their brains work.
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+14 +1
Earth may be home to one trillion species: Largest-ever analysis of microbial data reveals an ecological law concluding 99.999 percent of species remain undiscovered
Earth could contain nearly 1 trillion species, with only one-thousandth of 1 percent now identified, according to a study from biologists at Indiana University. The estimate, based on the intersection of large datasets and universal scaling laws, appears May 2 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study's authors are Jay T. Lennon, associate professor...
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+22 +1
Get cozy with your skin bacteria — they’re not going anywhere
Even with all the surfaces our skin comes into contact with, our microbes are pretty steadfast.
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+17 +1
99.999 percent of microbe species have yet to be discovered, say scientists.
Earth could contain 1 trillion microbial species, but humans only know about 0.001 percent of them, two biologists from Indiana University suggest in a paper published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "We've done a pretty good job of cataloguing macrobes. Maybe every few years you'll hear about a new worm at the bottom of the ocean, but the rate we are exploring new [plants and animals] is slowing down," Jay Lennon, a microbial biology researcher at...
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+16 +1
While Brazil Was Eradicating Zika Mosquitoes, America Made Them Into Weapons
The exact moment when one of the world’s most dangerous mosquitoes arrived in the Americas is unknown. It's clear that they came from Africa, and they may have crossed the Atlantic as early as 1495, on some of the first European ships to reach Hispanola. By 1648, when yellow fever broke out on the Yucatan peninsula, Aedes aegypti had definitely arrived. Their behavior upon arrival, though, was unusual. Most of the world's 3,500-plus mosquito species are innocent of lust for human blood but on these long journeys across the sea, the mosquitoes that survived were the ones willing to bite humans.
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+50 +1
Coming Soon: Gut Bacteria That Actually Cure Your Disease
Everybody's talking about gut bacteria. Pick a disease or disorder, and somebody, somewhere, has said that a probiotic supplement—an over-the-counter, unregulated pill usually filled with a single strain of friendly gut bacteria—might cure it, whether it’s cancer, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or a yeast infection. But there’s very little evidence that probiotic supplements do any good. “There’s a lot of promise here but not a lot of proof yet,” said Cliff McDonald, associate director for science at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion.
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