MetaFilter posts tagged with bacteria

Infect. Reproduce. Repeat.

The Whelk — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:33:08 -0800

Phage Wars 2: Now with customizable traits and retro interface fun! (previously) (related)

Blood Tide

Artw — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 09:15:27 -0800

Blood Falls - The iron rich red liquid gushing from a buried Antarctica lake shows how life may have existed on a snowball Earth, or on Europa.

Discovering bacteria's amazing communication system

homunculus — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:15:18 -0800

The secret, social lives of bacteria. "Bonnie Bassler discovered that bacteria 'talk' to each other, using a chemical language that lets them coordinate defense and mount attacks. The find has stunning implications for medicine, industry -- and our understanding of ourselves." [Via]

Om nom nom nom

orthogonality — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 05:08:55 -0800

A Hunter-killer stalks its prey in your bloodstream.

Another week, another benefit

Mr_Zero — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:55:03 -0800

We all know that marijuana has some medical uses. It has been discussed on Mefi many times before. Earlier this month a group of pharmacists and chemists published a study in which they found that cannabis is a source of antibacterial chemicals for multidrug resistant bacteria. If you are a pharmacists or chemist here is the actual study. A synopsis of the study for everyone else.

Why Do Beans Make You Fart?

netbros — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 05:16:49 -0800

ilovebacteria.com explains science to people who do not necessarily have a scientific background. You'll find a selection of DIY experiments like egg osmosis, and strange facts like the ever popular why does asparagus make your wee smell? And don't forget to meet the microbes.

Natural selection observed in a lab

Tehanu — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:36:58 -0800

In the 1980s, Richard Lenski hypothesized that his research team should be able to watch random mutations and natural selection taking place in a lab by observing a bacteria population over many generations. In 1988, beginning with a single bacterium, he started several replicate colonies. Recently, after 33,127 generations, his team has observed natural selection.

You got your E.coli in my pancakes and it's AWESOME

wendell — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:12:01 -0800

Cool: Scientists have genetically tweaked bacteria to create simple computers. Scary (probably unnecessarily): They're E.coli bacteria. Funny: The bacteria are able to solve the “Burnt Pancake Problem”. Money quote: “It’s kind of like that computer in ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’. It’s been working on a problem so long that by the time it comes up with an answer, everybody forgot the question.”

My Favorite Moisturizer

Xurando — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:08:01 -0800

You may have elbow germs and not even know it. Eeeww! "The crook of your elbow is not just a plain patch of skin. It is a piece of highly coveted real estate, a special ecosystem, a bountiful home to no fewer than six tribes of bacteria. Even after you have washed the skin clean, there are still one million bacteria in every square centimeter." Beware some of these germs may be on your hockey equipment.

On the brink of artificial life

strangeguitars — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 22:46:32 -0800

Venter made an artificial chromosome and may have already created artificial life in his lab. Is it a solution for global warming, or a plot for world domination? Anyway, it's a lot to think about and discuss.

'Peak Oil' believers just got PWNED!

ItsaMario — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 03:36:45 -0800

Genetically Modified Bacteria to make "Renewable Petroleum" (A biotech startup describes how it will coax petroleum-like fuels from engineered microbes within three to five years).

Life from scratch

charmston — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 17:28:19 -0800

Dr. Craig Venter, known for his role as a pioneer in the human genome project, has taken a major step towards creating life from scratch: transplanting the entire genome from one bacterium cell to another. Commence the ethics wars.

"By early 2005, nearly one-third of the wounded soldiers admitted to the National Naval Medical Center had been colonized by the bacteria."

amberglow — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 08:04:12 -0800

Rumors were circulating at the hospital that insurgents dosed their homemade bombs with the flesh of dead animals. ---multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter, and how we brought it to Iraq ourselves. "My colleagues and I have been looking for Acinetobacter baumannii in soil samples for years, and we haven't found it," she says. "These organisms are quite rare outside of hospitals." In other news, conditions in Iraqi hospitals are so bad due to lack of even the most basic supplies they're calling it a breach of the Geneva Conventions.

S(ch)ickening

kyrademon — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 01:39:49 -0800

83 percent of fresh, whole broiler chickens in the U.S. contain campylobacter or salmonella, the leading bacterial causes of foodborne disease. This is a disturbing increase from the 49 percent that tested positive in 2003. What’s more, most of the bacteria showed resistance to one or more antibiotics, and more expensive premium brands were actually more likely to contain salmonella. Is the problem factory farming? Rampant antibiotic use? Or are chickens just really gross?

bacterial art

dhruva — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 18:14:44 -0800

The Art of Edgar Lissel " Lissel works with bacteria, using their photo-tactical characteristics for his images."

The Rise of Slime

MetaMonkey — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 20:06:52 -0800

Altered Oceans: A Primeval Tide of Toxins The fireweed began each spring as tufts of hairy growth and spread across the seafloor fast enough to cover a football field in an hour. When fishermen touched it, their skin broke out in searing welts. Their lips blistered and peeled. Their eyes burned and swelled shut. Water that splashed from their nets spread the inflammation to their legs and torsos.

Fractal Bacteria

Gator — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 08:20:27 -0800

These images remind us never to underestimate our opponent. -- The science behind the art (.pdf). Fractal art by way of bacteria growin' in a petri dish. A few more images here.

Bruce Sterling's "We See Things Differently

russilwvong — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 11:00:20 -0800

We See Things Differently - a 1989 story from the perspective of an Arab visitor to a future, run-down America. By Bruce Sterling, science fiction writer and one of the founders of cyberpunk. Besides his science fiction, Sterling is also known for his 1992 book The Hacker Crackdown, available free on-line, and the Viridian Design Project. He's also an entertaining science writer; here's a column he wrote on bacterial resistance.

Synthetic Bacterial Computers

peacay — Fri, 29 Apr 2005 11:19:22 -0800

Multilingual bacteria are being used in synthetic biology techniques to display computer functionality.

Dark Galaxy, Nature Nukes & Ancient Bacteria

mcgraw — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 09:37:01 -0800

First starless, “dark galaxy” discovered.
Natural nuclear reactor found in Gabon.
NASA scientists revive 32,000 year-old bacterium.
Gin .

Ebola. Only, fuzzy.

XQUZYPHYR — Mon, 16 Feb 2004 17:56:32 -0800

Giant Microbe Plush Toys. We make stuffed animals that look like tiny microbes—only a million times actual size!

The Little Almost People - Bacteria

Blake — Thu, 11 Sep 2003 07:57:37 -0800

Ahhh bacteria, our little friends, what can't they do? Fight Off AIDS Virus in Women? Check. light up our world? Check. Wipe out all the little fishies in the sea? Check. Eat our flesh? Check. Change out CDs? Check. Heck, they may even work together better than us so it's important you Know your good and bad bugs, or just Learn more. The cute little buggers even have their own Museum.

The Bacteria Whisperer

o2b — Fri, 21 Mar 2003 08:44:08 -0800

The Bacteria Whisperer
“Bonnie Bassler discovered a secret about microbes that the science world has missed for centuries. The bugs are talking to each other. And plotting against us.”

Resistant-bacteria reports cause alarm

Postroad — Sun, 02 Mar 2003 11:42:19 -0800

Resistant-bacteria reports cause alarm Another good reason to avoid Fenway Park and the Redsox

Antibiotics no good anymore?

WolfDaddy — Tue, 12 Nov 2002 15:29:17 -0800

First vancomycin-resistant bacteria found in Detroit. This is worrisome, as vancomycin is usually the last antibiotic of choice when fighting a bacterial infection. Bacteria are both helpful and hurtful to the human body, but the little bugs seem to evolve much more quickly than humans own immune systems. Have we seen an end to antibiotics used in the fight against bacteria? What alternatives do we have?