A University of Washington study found surgeons in the nude shed ‘significantly less bacteria than those wearing scrubs’, but admitted it was not likely to ever happen. So – this DailyMail story certainly has a catchy headline: Surgeons can stop spread of germs by operating NAKED | Daily Mail Online. Alas, the story is seriously …
Of potential interest: Sept. 12-14 2017. Training course in Preserving, storing and maintaining microorganisms. From the site: Presented by staff from CABI, this course will be of interest to everyone involved in the handling, distributing and storing microorganisms. The course covers all aspects of culture preservation, maintenance and culture collection management and complies with the …
A while back I posted scans of some seminars from a while back here and I thought I would restart this activity (which I call retroblogging). I (and I hope some others) find it really interest to go back and see what people were talking about 10, 20, or more years ago. See for example Retroblogging …
There is a very interesting article by Kate Baggaley in Popular Science from a few weeks ago that is definitely worth a look. “Bacteria and fungi are a menace to paintings, sculptures, and ancient artifacts.” Source: The world’s art is under attack—by microbes | Popular Science It discusses how microbes are damaging various kinds of …
So as more and more companies start marketing cosmetic products with supposedly probiotic microbes in them (see eg., Farris Jabr’s excellent article in the NY Times from two days ago), it is important to recognize that, as the article linked below says “the cosmetic industry is largely self regulated.” Definitely worth a read. Manufacturers are not …
Just saw this story and thought people might be interested in it. Source: Brain-Invading Tapeworm That Eluded Doctors Spotted by New DNA Test – Scientific American The article discusses a new test to be offered by UCSF as well as some other tests from other places that all involve some type of metagenomic sequencing to …
OK – I am not really sure how much of this is new, but a new paper in AEM is getting some press recently. I first found out about it via a Tweet from Elisabeth Bik Wallpaper May Breed Toxins: Study Wallpaper may contribute to “sick building syndrome,”https://t.co/GdVUNBCYha — Elisabeth Bik (@MicrobiomDigest) June 25, 2017 …
This is definitely worth a read: Source: Could the Answer to the Antibiotic-Resistance Crisis Be Found on a Toilet Seat? – The Atlantic Or a listen to since there is an audio version of the story (see below).\ The article basically discusses work by Adam Roberts to survey the world for new antibiotics. The best …
This is a pretty big deal. Nick Lyon is the highest-ranking state official to be charged in the crisis. Source: Flint Water Crisis: Michigan Health Chief Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter : NPR The director of the Department of HHS in Michigan, Nick Lyon, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in relation to the Flint, MI …
Got pointed to this paper by Sofia Ahsanuddin of the MetaSub project and thought it might be of interest. Source: Exploring the under-investigated “microbial dark matter” of drinking water treatment plants : Scientific Reports Abstract: Scientists recently reported the unexpected detection of unknown or poorly studied bacterial diversity in groundwater. The ability to uncover this neglected biodiversity …