Among the cleanest and wealthiest countries in the world, Finland has the highest rate of Type 1 diabetes, while other messier and poorer countries have much lower rates. A recent article in the Washington Post discusses ongoing research to explore how exposure to dust and bacteria in houses might contribute to the onset of Type …
There is an interesting article in the News Observer of relevance to microBEnet: NC startup develops a way to turn sand into bricks with bacteria instead of heat | Science/Technology | NewsObserver.com. There are parts I am a bit skeptical of but the article tells the story of Ginger Kreig Dosier and her company “bioMASON” …
So earlier this week I wrote an article at Slate called “I would rather lick a toilet seat than cell phone”. Which was a really unfortunate title since I was trying to emphasize that toilet seats are surprisingly clean and the general point of the article was about microbial scare stories. I did not mean …
One aspect of life with dogs is that my house and clothing tend be coated in a layer of hair. However, a recent study by Fujimura et al. indicates that the dust in houses with dogs may confer protection from airway allergens and respiratory infection compared to houses with no pets. Fujimura et al. exposed …
We’ve talked in the past about uses for bacteria to sense and repair concrete (e.g. here and here) but this podcast is the first time I’ve heard the idea of using bacteria as pure sensors. In the words of the podcast summary “scientists might be able to develop a bacterial early warning system for our …
This study, just published in Infection and Immunity has been getting a lot of press: Some bacteria ‘live for long periods’ on toys, books and cribs Germs that cause colds can last outside human body for months: study Crib toys, day care items can harbor strep bacteria for months The basic gist of this story …
The study of how aerosols disperse and settle is an important part of the microbiology of the built environment and there are several groups working on the topic. However, this story was the first I’ve heard about modeling this process in zero gravity. The settling of aerosols in particular is quite different in spacecraft than …
A conference organized by the European Commission on the European antimicrobial resistance (AMR) five year action plan and its future challenges is taking place in Brussels today, 11 December. The conference is intended to provide a platform to discuss this action plan at the mid-stage of its implementation, looking at the issue both from a …
Nothing to add here. Really the title of this story says it all… I’ve been hoping to post more often about food microbiology so here we go.
Nice video from NPR about the human microbiome that is worth taking a look at