The dust storm microbiome

Israel is subjected to sand and dust storms from several directions: northeast from the Sahara, northwest from Saudi Arabia and southwest from the desert regions of Syria. The airborne dust carried in these storms affects ...

An unusual molecule protects nerve cells from degeneration

An international research team led by Professor Stephanie Grond from the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the University of Tübingen has found that the natural substance collinolactone reduces artificially-induced stress ...

Agricultural bacteria: Blowing in the wind

The 1930s Dust Bowl proved what a disastrous effect wind can have on dry, unprotected topsoil. Now a new study has uncovered a less obvious, but equally troubling impact of wind: Not only can it carry away soil particles, ...

Revealing bacterial chainmail structure

An international team of scientists has uncovered the structure of the protective protein coat which surrounds many bacteria like a miniature suit of armour. Their research, which is published today in Nature, has far ranging ...

Overlooked: The role of bacterial viruses in plant health

We know how important bacteria and fungi are for the health of plants. In marine environments and in our own gut, bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) are important in regulating the microbiome. Yet, their effect ...

Roundworm research reviewed in Science publication

There are 16,000 types of parasitic roundworms causing illnesses in humans and animals. Controlling their effects on health becomes more difficult as the medicines used to treat them become less effective. A University of ...

Distribution of British soil bacteria mapped for the first time

Britain's soil bacteria have been mapped for the first time in the most comprehensive study of a country's soil biodiversity to date. The results are published today (20 April 2011) in the journal Environmental Microbiology.

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