Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has become the poster child for antibiotic resistance in large part because of a larger problem: patients tend to stop taking antibiotics once they…

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease that infects 243million people worldwide, and kills about 200 thousand every year. Theinfection is contracted through contaminated waters, and in the…

There is a reason why peeing in your house is not actually a good idea - but some doctors have perpetuated the idea that urine is sterile by using that as a test for urinary tract infections. Not…

The rind is the boundary layer between a cheese and the environment. It hosts a variety of microorganisms that comprise the microbiome, a symbiotic community whose members perform different tasks.…

Researchers have reported a unique discovery; the marine dinoflagellate Dapsilidinium pastielsii in Southeast Asia, notably the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool.  This unicellular species, with planktonic…

A bacterium whose genetic material includes an added pair of DNA "letters," or bases, not found in nature has been created. The cells of this unique bacterium can replicate the unnatural DNA bases…

Smallpox as a disease is dead and has been since 1980. Should we let the virus behind it die? Variola, the virus that causes smallpox, is on the agenda of the upcoming meeting of the World Health…

How can you be both a necrophiliac and chaste? Welcome to the fascinating world of bacterial reproduction. Bacteria don't have sex the way humans think of sex - they can mix their genetic material in…

In old movies, humans feared invaders from other planets, but they had better watch out for us. In "War of the Worlds" we took out the Martians using nothing but microorganisms, so if imagine if…

It's broadly understood that the world's oceans play a crucial role in the global-scale cycling and exchange of carbon between Earth's ecosystems and atmosphere. Now scientists at Scripps Institution…