Scientists Explain Why Computers Crash But We Don't

(PhysOrg.com) -- Nature and software engineers face similar design challenges in creating control systems. The different solutions they employ help explain why living organisms tend to malfunction less than computers, a Yale ...

Virus genes from city pond rescue bacteria

A key question in evolutionary biology is how new functions arise. New research at Uppsala University, Sweden, shows that bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) can contribute to new functions by revealing hidden potential ...

Bacterial guests double as bodyguards

The bacterium Escherichia coli can be a scientist’s best friend when it’s being used as a tool for biological research, but some strains of it are better known for their nasty effects on humans as a causative agent ...

Engineering Bacteria to Clean Up Pesticide (w/ Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Can we get bugs to do our bidding? Emory chemist Justin Gallivan has moved science another step closer to that possibility. His lab reprogrammed an innocuous strain of the bacterium Escherichia coli to "seek ...

A roundabout route to protein production

Proteins are typically encoded by linear strands of messenger RNA (mRNA). These mRNA molecules are translated into polypeptide chains by ribosomes, with each ribosomal read-through of the mRNA generating a single, discrete ...

Genetic mutation trade-offs lead to parallel evolution

Organisms in nature adapt and evolve in complex environments. For example, when subjected to changes in nutrients, antibiotics, and predation, microbes in the wild face the challenge of adapting multiple traits at the same ...

How E. coli cells work in the human gut

(Phys.org) -- The bacterium Escherichia coli, commonly known as E. coli, has a duplicitous reputation. Scientists tell us that most strains of the microbe live peacefully in our guts or the guts of other mammals, munching ...

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