News tagged with microbiology
Rapid coral death by a deadly chain reaction
(Phys.org) -- Most people are fascinated by the colorful and exotic coral reefs, which form habitats with probably the largest biodiversity. But human civilisation is the top danger to these fragile ecosystems ...
May 24, 2012 |
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Amazon fungi found that eat polyurethane, even without oxygen
(PhysOrg.com) -- Until now polyurethane has been considered non-biodegradable, but a group of students from Yale University in the US has found fungi that will not only eat and digest it, they will do so even in the absence ...
Genes culled from desert soils suggest potential medical resource
Despite their ecologic similarity, soils from three geographically distinct areas of the American southwest harbor vastly different collections of small, biosynthetic genes, a finding that suggests the existence of a far ...
May 21, 2012 |
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Protein analysis investigates marine worm community
(Phys.org) -- Techniques used by researchers from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory to analyze a simple marine worm and its resident bacteria could accelerate efforts to understand more ...
May 09, 2012 |
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Hearty bacteria help make case for life in the extreme
(PhysOrg.com) -- The bottom of a glacier is not the most hospitable place on Earth, but at least two types of bacteria happily live there, according to researchers.
Jan 19, 2012 |
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Cold case: Siberian hot springs reveal ancient ecology (w/ video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- Exotic bacteria that do not rely on oxygen may have played an important role in determining the composition of Earth's early atmosphere, according to a theory that UChicago researcher Albert ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 26, 2011 |
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Old life capable of revealing new tricks after all
(PhysOrg.com) -- Archaea are among the oldest known life-forms, but they are not well understood. It was only in the 1970s that these single-celled microorganisms were designated as a domain of life distinct ...
Jul 06, 2011 |
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'Goldilocks Zone' may go colder than previously thought
(PhysOrg.com) -- The survival of life on Earth is possible only within a relatively narrow temperature range known as the "Goldilocks Zone," which ranges from around 0 to 100°C. In many ecosystems life is ...
Bacteria in mouth and gut also found in arteries
(PhysOrg.com) -- The same types of bacteria found in arterial plaque, which causes atherosclerosis, are also found in the mouth and gut, according to the first general survey of all bacteria found in plaques ...
Medicine & Health / Medical research
Oct 13, 2010 |
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Genetic variation in human gut viruses could be raw material for inner evolution
(PhysOrg.com) -- A growing body of evidence underscores the importance of human gut bacteria in modulating human health, metabolism, and disease. Yet bacteria are only part of the story. Viruses that infect ...
Mar 19, 2012 |
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Investigators predict, confirm how E. coli bacteria hijack cells' directional mechanism
Working in the emerging field of systems biology, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers mathematically predicted how bacteria that cause food poisoning hijack a cell's sense of direction and then confirmed those predictions ...
Mar 01, 2012 |
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Study uncovers how Salmonella avoids the body's immune response
UC Irvine researchers have discovered how Salmonella, a bacterium found in contaminated raw foods that causes major gastrointestinal distress in humans, thrives in the digestive tract despite the immune system's best effort ...
Mar 14, 2012 |
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A single atom controls motility required for bacterial infection
Bacteria can swim, propelling themselves through fluids using a whip-like extension called a flaggella. They can also walk, strolling along solid surfaces using little fibrous legs called pili. It is this ...
Jan 04, 2010 |
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Streptococcus enzyme could compete with toothbrushes, dental floss
(PhysOrg.com) -- Investigators from Japan show in vitro that the bacterium Streptococcus salivarius, a non-biofilm forming, and otherwise harmless inhabitant of the human mouth, actually inhibits the formation of dental biofilms, ...
Apr 03, 2011 |
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Intestinal flora of cockroaches and termites reflects these insects' family relationships, and divergent diets
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany, have compared the microbial ecosystems in the intestines termites and cockroaches, with fascinating results. The research is published ...
Apr 17, 2012 |
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Microbiology
Microbiology (from Greek μῑκρος, mīkros, "small"; βίος, bios, "life"; and -λογία, -logia) is the study of microorganisms, which are unicellular or cell-cluster microscopic organisms. This includes eukaryotes such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes, which are bacteria and archaea. Viruses, though not strictly classed as living organisms, are also studied. In short; microbiology refers to the study of life and organisms that are too small to be seen with the naked eye.
Microbiology is a broad term which includes virology, mycology, parasitology, bacteriology and other branches. A microbiologist is a specialist in microbiology.
Microbiology is researched actively, and the field is advancing continually. We have probably only studied about one percent of all of the microbe species on Earth. Although microbes were first observed over three hundred years ago, the field of microbiology can be said to be in its infancy relative to older biological disciplines such as zoology and botany.
For more information about Microbiology, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.