Yogurt with probiotics are one of the latest health fads, but no one is sure they are doing anything at all and, if they are, that it is helping.  Probiotics are defined by marketing groups as "…

Imagine being able to go from the hottest of hots to the coldest of colds, and endure both extreme droughts, where 97% of your body water is gone, and airless vacuums such as space. The African midge…

Tiny single-cell organisms living underground could help with the problem of nuclear waste disposal, according to a paper in the ISME (Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology) Journal.…

Soon to be grown for ornamental use only.Credit: Mark Nesbitt and Samuel Delwen, CC BY By Luc Henry, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne The past few decades have seen enormous progress…

Immunotoxins are targeted antibodies that go after deadly toxins like ricin. In the quest to find targeted therapies for cancer - that kill cancer but spare the surrounding tissue, immunotoxins make…

In the search for enzymes that can break lignocellulose down into biofuel sugars under the extreme conditions of a refinery, researchers are investigating new ways to release plant sugars from lignin…

By Patrik Jones, Imperial College London Converting renewable energy into electricity is one thing; converting it into fuel is quite another. The vast majority of global energy demand is for fuel,…

Human breast milk is nutrition for infants but it also contains a large number of bacterial species, including some opportunistic pathogens of humans.  The existence of milk microbiome is…

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas that is also responsible for destroying the ozone layer.  INRA researchers in Dijon have shown that the ability of soils to eliminate N2O can…

Humans transport microbes around their environment. Image: Argonne National Laboratory By Emma Saville, The Conversation and Penny Orbell, The Conversation Microbial communities vary greatly between…