Antibiotic resistance
5 articles-
How We Can Finally Start Outsmarting Single-Cell Attackers
Imagine you are a bacterium, roughly 1/1,700,000 of your current size, residing in your own human body’s gut. You live in a diverse community, the “microbiome,” teeming with other bacteria: friendly neighbors who live next door, some ne’erdowells who occasionally vandalize the town, and your neighborhood cops who try to keep everything in check. The […] -
Using Sharks’ Tricks to Prevent Lethal and Costly Infections
Staph bacteria (red) forming a biofilmNational Science Foundation Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . A common enemy befouls surgeons, plumbers, and sailors alike: slime. In each of their professions, they wage ceaseless war against biofouling—layers of living organisms that stick around exactly where we don’t want them. Removing these […] -
The Great Bioterror Threat Is Modern Society
E. coli that tested positive for NMD-1 growing in a petri dish. The sample came from a 67-year-old man in India. Nathan Reading via Flickr Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . After the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent anthrax mailings, the United States government started taking […] -
The Curious Case of the Exploding Pig Farms
This pig farm was devastated by an explosion due to foaming. Ross Muhlbauer, Iowa State University Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . At first, the manure was just harmlessly foaming. Only later on did things get lethal. Hog farms in the Midwest are great big barns sitting on top of […] -
Be Careful With the Powerful Medicine That Is Poop
It has recently become clear that each one of us is more microbe than human—at least when it comes to the number of cells in our bodies. The bacteria that swarm through our guts, across our skin, and in every orifice you have outnumber our human cells by at least 10 to 1, though their […]