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+28 +1
Kill switches for engineered microbes gone rogue
Synthetic biologists are fitting the genomes of microorganisms with synthetic gene circuits to break down polluting plastics, non-invasively diagnose and treat infections in the human gut, and generate chemicals and nutrition on long haul space flights. Although showing great promise in the laboratory, these technologies require control and safety measures that make sure the engineered microorganisms keep their functional gene circuits intact over many cell divisions, and that they are contained to the specific environments they are designed for.
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+15 +1
‘Antibiotic apocalypse’: doctors sound alarm over drug resistance
Scientists attending a recent meeting of the American Society for Microbiology reported they had uncovered a highly disturbing trend. They revealed that bacteria containing a gene known as mcr-1 – which confers resistance to the antibiotic colistin – had spread round the world at an alarming rate since its original discovery 18 months earlier. In one area of China, it was found that 25% of hospital patients now carried the gene.
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+33 +1
Photographing the microscopic.
Nikon just announced the winners of the 2017 Small World Photomicrography Competition.
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+21 +1
Quantum dots and antibiotics are a lethal combo for drug-resistant superbugs
Bacteria that are resistant to current antibiotics are a growing—and alarming—problem. A new solution comes from an unexpected place: light-activated chemicals that supercharge antibiotics so that bacteria cannot withstand them. Drug-resistant infections are a serious concern. Some strains of the bacteria Escherichia coli (more commonly known as E. coli), for example, have become resistant to drugs like carbapenem, usually considered antibiotics of last resort.
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+1 +1
Killing Resistant Superbugs with Antibiotic Triumvirate
The exponential rise in antibiotic-resistant microbes is a major public health threat worldwide. Moreover, with approval times for new antibiotics taking more than a decade in most cases, finding a viable treatment among previously approved compounds is imperative to stem the drug-resistant tide. Now, investigators at the University at Buffalo (UB) have encouraging new data on a trio of antibiotics that when used in concert together, are capable of eradicating deadly Escherichia coli carrying the mcr-1 and ndm-5 genes—making the bacterium immune to last-resort antibiotics.
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+30 +1
There are diseases hidden in ice, and they are waking up
Throughout history, humans have existed side-by-side with bacteria and viruses. From the bubonic plague to smallpox, we have evolved to resist them, and in response they have developed new ways of infecting us. We have had antibiotics for almost a century, ever since Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. In response, bacteria have responded by evolving antibiotic resistance. The battle is endless: because we spend so much time with pathogens, we sometimes develop a kind of natural stalemate.
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+30 +1
Resistance to the Antibiotic of Last Resort Is Silently Spreading
The alarm bells sounded on November 18, 2015. Antibiotic resistance is usually a slow-moving crisis, one of the reasons its danger can be hard to convey. One by one, over the years, the drugs used to fight the most stubborn infections have fallen by the wayside as bacteria have evolved resistance to them. For certain infections, the only drug left is colistin. Then on November 18, 2015, scientists published a report in the British medical journal The Lancet: A single, easily spreadable gene makes the bacteria that carry it resistant to colistin, our antibiotic of last resort.
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+19 +1
Fire up the atom forge
Rethink electron microscopy to build quantum materials from scratch, urge Sergei V. Kalinin, Albina Borisevich and Stephen Jesse.
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+11 +1
Verily's wearable microscope sees beneath your skin
It tracks biomarkers to detect cancers and monitor drug delivery.
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+2 +1
How Big Pharma’s Industrial Waste Is Fueling the Rise in Superbugs Worldwide
Pharmaceutical companies are fuelling the rise of superbugs by manufacturing drugs in factories that leak industrial waste, says a new report which calls on them to radically improve their supply chains. Factories in China and India – where the majority of the world’s antibiotics are produced – are releasing untreated waste fluid containing active ingredients into surrounding areas, highlights the report by a coalition of environmental and public health organisations.
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+27 +1
Underwater microscope offers a brand new look at sea life
Scientists have a hard time studying microscope sea life, and for good reason. Underwater scientific equipment can't study things at that scale, and bringing samples up to the surface frequently deprives them of that all-important natural context. Enter UC San Diego: its researchers have crafted the Benthic Underwater Microscope, the first undersea microscope that can study "millimeter-scale" activity in its native habitat. It combines a water-friendly computer with an imaging system that revolves...
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+30 +1
Elusive state of superconducting matter discovered after 50 years
Scientists have produced the first direct evidence of a state of electronic matter first predicted by theorists in 1964. The discovery may provide key insights into the workings of high-temperature superconductors.
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+29 +1
Amazing Photographs Capture the Microscopic Iridescence of Peacock Feathers
Male peacocks are justly admired for their brilliantly colored plumage. Canadian photographer Waldo Nell has captured the underlying microscopic structure behind those stunning hues in extraordinary detail in his latest photographic series.
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+27 +1
Electron microscope reveals bacteria motor parts in incredible unprecedented detail
A new study of the exotic “motors” that bacteria use to swim reveals details of how they “swim” that may make it possible to design specific drugs that sabotage the flagella (tails) in targeted bacterial species. Using a newly installed high-powered electron microscope, researchers at Imperial College London, led by Morgan Beeby, PhD from the Department of Life Sciences, has been able visualize these motors in unprecedented detail.
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+39 +1
Vast, uncharted viral world discovered on human skin
Nearly 95% of the viral content that helps shape the microbiome is unknown.
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+56 +1
Frankenvirus emerges from Siberia's frozen wasteland
Scientists said they will reanimate a 30,000-year-old giant virus unearthed in the frozen wastelands of Siberia, and warned climate change may awaken dangerous microscopic pathogens. Reporting this week in PNAS, the flagship journal of the US National Academy of Sciences, French researchers announced the discovery of Mollivirus sibericum, the fourth type of pre-historic virus found since 2003—and the second by this team.
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+20 +1
Artist creates incredible nano sculptures that can only be viewed with an electron microscope
Created by artist and engineer Jonty Hurwitz, these tiny sculptures are small enough to be placed on the head of an ant.
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+18 +1
How Ecstasy, Aspirin, and LSD Look Under the Microscope
From aspirin to ecstasy, Maurice Mikkers cracks open the insides of popular prescription and recreational drugs.
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