New explanation for nature's hardiest life form

Got food poisoning? The cause might be bacterial spores, en extremely hardy survival form of bacteria, a nightmare for health care and the food industry and an enigma for scientists. Spore-forming bacteria, present almost ...

How dormant bacteria come back to life

Solving a riddle that has confounded biologists since bacterial spores—inert, sleeping bacteria— were first described more than 150 years ago, researchers at Harvard Medical School have discovered a new kind of cellular ...

Nearly indestructible virus yields tool to treat diseases

By unlocking the secrets of a bizarre virus that survives in nearly boiling acid, scientists at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have found a blueprint for battling human disease using DNA clad in near-indestructible ...

Protein synthesis, ATP unnecessary for bacterial spore germination

Spores of Bacillus bacteria can survive for years in a dormant state, and then germinate in minutes. But it has long been unclear whether germination required protein synthesis, or cellular energy packets, which are known ...

Mussel adhesive inspires tough coating for living cells

Inspired by Mother Nature, scientists are reporting development of a protective coating with the potential to enable living cells to survive in a dormant condition for long periods despite intense heat, dryness and other ...

page 2 from 3