MetaFilter posts tagged with bacteria

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.