http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Ever notice how a dried coffee stain has a thicker outer rim, while the middle of the stain remains almost unsoiled? This 'coffee ring effect' also occurs in other materials. Researchers from the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry at KU Leuven have now discovered how to counteract coffee rings with 'surfactants', i.e. soap. The key to the discovery was not a kitchen towel, but a bacterium that counteracts the coffee ring effect at the microscopic level. http://phys.org/news287744927.html Chemistry Tue, 14 May 2013 10:09:01 EST news287744927 In biology, we often think of natural selection and survival of the fittest. What about survival of the luckiest? Like pioneers in search of a better life, bacteria on a surface wander around and often organize into highly resilient communities, known as biofilms. It turns out that a lucky few bacteria become the elite cells that start the colonies, and they organize in a rich-get-richer pattern similar to the distribution of wealth in the U.S. economy, according to a new study by researchers at UCLA, Northwestern University and the University of Washington. http://phys.org/news287236562.html Biology Wed, 08 May 2013 13:00:12 EST news287236562 To infect its host, the respiratory pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa takes an ordinary protein usually involved in making other proteins and adds three small molecules to turn it into a key for gaining access to human cells. In a study to be published May 7 in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, scientists at Emory University School of Medicine, the University of Virginia, and Universidad de las Islas Baleares in Mallorca, Spain, uncover this previously unknown virulence factor in P. aeruginosa, one of the most common causes of hospital-acquired pneumonia. http://phys.org/news287076892.html Biology Tue, 07 May 2013 00:00:02 EST news287076892 A new study which was performed jointly at Umea University and the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, discovered that bacteria can degrade the cell membrane of bacterial competitors with enzymes that do not harm their own membrane. This exciting finding opens the way for the development of new antibacterial drugs to fight bacteria using their own weapons. http://phys.org/news284293604.html Biology Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:26:49 EST news284293604 Some people may joke about living on caffeine, but scientists now have genetically engineered E. coli bacteria to do that—literally. Their report in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology describes bacteria being "addicted" to caffeine in a way that promises practical uses ranging from decontamination of wastewater to bioproduction of medications for asthma. http://phys.org/news283602824.html Chemistry Wed, 27 Mar 2013 11:34:19 EST news283602824 (Phys.org)—Rice University researchers "cured" a strain of bacteria of its ability to resist an antibiotic in an experiment that has implications for a long-standing public health crisis. http://phys.org/news279819521.html Biology Mon, 11 Feb 2013 15:39:02 EST news279819521 The $15 billion ornamental fish industry faces a global problem with antibiotic resistance, a new study concludes, raising concern that treatments for fish diseases may not work when needed – and creating yet another mechanism for exposing humans to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. http://phys.org/news277481539.html Biology Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:12:26 EST news277481539 (Phys.org)—Scientists have identified the chemical 'fingerprints' given off by specific bacteria when present in the lungs, potentially allowing for a quick and simple breath test to diagnose infections such as tuberculosis. http://phys.org/news277058434.html Chemistry Thu, 10 Jan 2013 19:00:03 EST news277058434 (Phys.org)—Band-​​aid tech­nology has made incre­mental improve­ments in the years since its com­mer­cial intro­duc­tion in the late 1960s, the most impor­tant of which has been the incor­po­ra­tion of antibi­otics into the non­ad­he­sive padding. But imagine if adhe­sive ban­dages could do more than pas­sively pre­vent the growth of bac­teria—imagine if they could mon­itor a wound and pre­dict that growth. http://phys.org/news273827133.html Chemistry Tue, 04 Dec 2012 07:05:46 EST news273827133 The relatively new field in microbiology that focuses on quorum sensing has been making strides in understanding how bacteria communicate and cooperate. Quorum sensing describes the bacterial communication between cells that allows them to recognize and react to the size of their surrounding cell population. While a cell's output of extracellular products, or "public goods," is dependent on the size of its surrounding population, scientists have discovered that quorum sensing, a type of bacterial communication, controls when cells release these public goods into their environments. http://phys.org/news269180691.html Biology Thu, 11 Oct 2012 14:00:04 EST news269180691 (Phys.org)—Infectious bacteria received a taste of their own medicine from University of Missouri researchers who used viruses to infect and kill colonies of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, common disease-causing bacteria. The viruses, known as bacteriophages, could be used to efficiently sanitize water treatment facilities and may aid in the fight against deadly antibiotic-resistant bacteria. http://phys.org/news267723735.html Biology Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:42:43 EST news267723735 Biochemist Alejandro Heuck at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently received a five-year, $950,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to map the molecular structure of a needle-like tool used by deadly bacteria to drill holes in mammalian cell walls. http://phys.org/news260119409.html Chemistry Thu, 28 Jun 2012 16:23:39 EST news260119409 Researchers have identified the set of tools an infectious microbe uses to persuade a plant to open the windows and let the bug and all of its friends inside. http://phys.org/news258804489.html Biology Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:00:03 EST news258804489 Scientists at The University of Nottingham have opened the way for more accurate research into new ways to fight dangerous bacterial infections by proving a long-held theory about how bacteria communicate with each other. http://phys.org/news256473774.html Biology Thu, 17 May 2012 11:42:59 EST news256473774 The superbugs have met their match. Conceived at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), it comes in the form of a coating which has a magnetic-like feature that attracts bacteria and kills them without the need for antibiotics. http://phys.org/news255866404.html Chemistry Thu, 10 May 2012 11:00:10 EST news255866404 An international research team led by Virginia Tech Associate Professor Boris Vinatzer and Giorgio Balestra of the University of Tuscia in Italy has used the latest DNA sequencing technology to trace a devastating pathogen back to its likely origin. http://phys.org/news255783050.html Biology Wed, 09 May 2012 17:00:06 EST news255783050 Bacteria are often the ideal machines in industry. The inputs they require are cheap substances such as amino acids and sugar, and their outputs are valuable products such as bioplastics. http://phys.org/news251977993.html Biology Mon, 26 Mar 2012 11:10:02 EST news251977993 The Australian wallaby and platypus could turn out to be key weapons in fighting the growing health threat of multidrug-resistant bacteria, a team involving University of Sydney researchers has discovered. http://phys.org/news234174313.html Biology Fri, 02 Sep 2011 09:25:27 EST news234174313 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers in Singapore have modified the DNA of one type of bacterium, Escherichia coli, to first sense the presence of another bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and then to explode, releasing a special kind of toxin that will kill it. Chueh Loo Poh and Matthew Wook Chang of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, describe their research in Molecular Systems Biology. http://phys.org/news232794510.html Biology Wed, 17 Aug 2011 10:08:56 EST news232794510 Toxins produced by plants and bacteria pose a significant threat to humans, as emphasized by the recent effects of cucumber-borne Shiga toxin in Germany. Now, new research published on July 21st by the Cell Press journal Developmental Cell provides a clearer view of the combination of similar and divergent strategies that different toxins use to invade a human host cell. http://phys.org/news230481826.html Biology Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:44:11 EST news230481826 Microbiologists have uncovered a sneaky trick by the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa to oust rivals. It deploys a toxin delivery machine to breach cell walls of competitors without hurting itself. http://phys.org/news230384616.html Biology Wed, 20 Jul 2011 13:00:01 EST news230384616 (PhysOrg.com) -- Like mutual back-scratching, two common bacteria involved in what was thought to be only a marginally important relationship actually help each other thrive when grown together in bioreactors, Cornell scientists have discovered. http://phys.org/news226902715.html Chemistry Fri, 10 Jun 2011 05:33:26 EST news226902715 As it turns out, humans aren't the only organisms that turn to caffeine for a pick-me-up. University of Iowa scientists have identified four different bacteria that actually can live on caffeine. http://phys.org/news226675354.html Biology Tue, 07 Jun 2011 14:23:34 EST news226675354 A new bacterium that uses caffeine for food has been discovered by a doctoral student at the University of Iowa. The bacterium uses newly discovered digestive enzymes to break down the caffeine, which allows it to live and grow. http://phys.org/news225466528.html Biology Tue, 24 May 2011 14:35:48 EST news225466528 Cancer treatments often have the side effect of impairing the patient's immune system. This can result in life-threatening secondary infections from bacteria and fungi, especially since bacteria, like Staphylococcus aureus, are becoming multi-drug resistant (MRSA). New research published by BioMed Central's open access journal Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials investigates the potency of Indian wild plants against bacterial and fungal infections in the mouths of oral cancer patients. http://phys.org/news225077895.html Biology Fri, 20 May 2011 02:38:43 EST news225077895 Recent research aboard the Space Shuttle is giving scientists a better understanding of how infectious disease occurs in space and could someday improve astronaut health and provide novel treatments for people on Earth. http://phys.org/news219944912.html Biology Mon, 21 Mar 2011 16:49:03 EST news219944912 Plants are able to protect themselves from most bacteria, but some bacteria are able to breach their defences. In research to be published in Science on Friday, scientists have identified the genes used by some strains of the bacterium Pseudomonas to overwhelm defensive natural products produced by plants of the mustard family, or crucifers. http://phys.org/news218383649.html Biology Thu, 03 Mar 2011 14:07:49 EST news218383649 Scientists at the University of Liverpool are using the latest DNA sequencing technology to understand the diversity of a bacterium that causes severe lung infection in cystic fibrosis patients. http://phys.org/news217594763.html Medicine & Health Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:59:42 EST news217594763 Researchers from the Universities of Dundee and Oxford have made a significant breakthrough in understanding how resistance to antibiotics might be overcome, by producing the first ever 3D molecular image of a key drug target and showing how drugs bind to it. http://phys.org/news214493844.html Biology Mon, 17 Jan 2011 13:37:44 EST news214493844 Cold plasma jets could be a safe, effective alternative to antibiotics to treat multi-drug resistant infections, says a study published this week in the January issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology. http://phys.org/news211629408.html Biology Wed, 15 Dec 2010 10:10:01 EST news211629408