Microbes

Microbes

Gut bacteria may affect how well your medicines work

Gut bacteria can chemically change the drugs people swallow. ID-ing a patient’s microbes might one day help doctors prescribe the most effective drugs.

Health & Medicine

Bats are now the primary source of U.S. rabies deaths

Although human rabies is not common in the United States, it still occurs. But here dogs are no longer the likely source of this oft-lethal infection: Bats are.

Earth

Antibiotics pollute many of the world’s rivers

A survey of 165 rivers finds unsafe levels of antibiotics at one in six sites tested. Such pollution can leave germs resistant (unharmed) by the drugs.

Microbes

Teens swipe a door handle and find an antibiotic

Three teens swabbed a smartphone, a door handle and a hand dryer. The new bacterium they turned up can kill other types of germs.

Microbes

Slimy fish could aid the search for new drugs

Fish slime could teach scientists about bacteria that live on fish and aid in the hunt for new kinds of antibiotics.

Life

Explainer: Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes

Prokaryotes tend to be small and simple, while eukaryotes have embraced a highly organized lifestyle. These divergent approaches to life have both proved very successful.

Tech

This bionic mushroom makes electricity

What do you get when you combine fungi, graphene, 3-D printing and photosynthetic bacteria? A mushroom that makes electricity.

Microbes

Amoebas are crafty, shape-shifting engineers

It’s easy to overlook amoebas — but we shouldn’t. These one-celled wonders can build their own shells, punch holes in prey and even farm bacteria.

Environment

Six things that shouldn’t pollute your drinking water

These are why drinking untreated water can be harmful. But keep in mind, today’s water-treatment plants still won’t remove all of these.

Earth

Explainer: How is water cleaned up for drinking

Unless you’re drinking well water, city folks typically get drinking water that has been treated in a water-treatment plant. Here’s what that means.

Microbes

Bacteria and bugs will save us from the zombie apocalypse

Don’t fear the undead. Here’s how the body’s cells, microbes and insects will eat a zombie before it ever goes looking for brains.

Microbes

Bacteria are all around us — and that’s okay

Scientists may have identified less than one percent of all bacteria on Earth. But there’s a reason to keep up the hunt. These microbes could help us understand and protect our planet.