Health care workers in emergency departments are often carriers of the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), potentially putting patients at risk.
Scientists say the power of copper to fight germs lies in the fact that copper ions separate on contact with bacteria and cause irreversible damage to the bacteria's cells.
Scientists discovered the only known ecosystem that consists of just one organism in a gold mine in South Africa. This ecosystem could be a model for early life on Earth or other planets.
Much of twentieth century biological research has focused on a limited number of model organisms, such as Arabidopsis, C. elegans, mouse, Drosophila, and E. coli. But biology wasn’t always done this way.
Scientists have uncovered a chain reaction which could link Enterococcus faecalis bacteria living in our intestines to the development of colon cancer.
Bacteria have tiny channels in their walls which operate like the valve on a pressure cooker - they open to release material when the pressure in a bacterial cell gets too great. If the channel didn't open to relieve pressure the bacteria would explode and die, so this is a target for drug development.