Bacteria News

June 24, 2025

Top Headlines

Microscopic Heist: How Lung Bacteria Forge Weapons to Steal Iron and Survive

June 19, 2025 — Researchers investigating the enigmatic and antibiotic-resistant Pandoraea bacteria have uncovered a surprising twist: these pathogens don't just pose risks they also produce powerful natural ...

Synthetic Compound Shows Promise Against Multidrug Resistance

June 3, 2025 — Researchers have synthesized a new compound called infuzide that shows activity against resistant strains of ...

Insect Protein Blocks Bacterial Infection

June 2, 2025 — Scientists in Australia have developed a smart, bacteria-repelling coating based on resilin the ultra-elastic protein that gives fleas their legendary jumping power. When applied to surfaces like medical implants or surgical tools, the engineered ...

Genetic Deep Dive Dispels Fear of Hybrid Worm Threat

May 30, 2025 — Parasitic worms that infect humans are not interbreeding with those that infect cattle as previously thought. This is good news for when it comes to controlling schistosomiasis, a disease caused by these worms that affects more than 200 million ...

How Cholera Bacteria Outsmart Viruses

May 26, 2025 — Researchers uncover a notorious cholera strain that contains sophisticated immune systems to fend off viruses, which potentially helped it to fuel a devastating epidemic across Latin ...

Natural Algal Communities Can Inhibit Aquaculture Pathogens

May 24, 2025 — Antimicrobial resistance is a growing issue in aquaculture. Researchers discovered that combinations of bacteria from live-feed microalgae are capable of inhibiting ...

Looking to Cut Calories? Try Adding Chilies, Study Suggests

May 22, 2025 — Throwing a little heat on your meal might be an effective strategy for cutting back on calories, according to a new ...

Engineered Bacteria Can Deliver Antiviral Therapies, Vaccines

May 21, 2025 — New research demonstrates how specially engineered bacteria taken orally can operate as a delivery system for vaccines and antiviral ...

Why Some Viral Infections Appear to Trigger Autoimmune Disease

May 20, 2025 — By studying Chikungunya virus, scientists shed light on how immune responses to viral infections may lead to persistent symptoms of autoimmune ...

Family of Parasite Proteins Presents New Potential Malaria Treatment Target

May 19, 2025 — Researchers have shown that the evolution of a family of exported proteins in the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium falciparum enabled it to infect ...

Could Nanoplastics in the Environment Turn E. Coli Into a Bigger Villain?

May 19, 2025 — Nanoplastics are everywhere. These fragments are so tiny they can accumulate on bacteria and be taken up by plant roots; they're in our food, our water, and our bodies. Scientists don't know the full extent of their impacts on our health, but new ...

How Antibiotic Resistance to Fusidic Acid Works

May 17, 2025 — Researchers describe a fundamental mechanism of antibiotic resistance. What happens in a bacterium that is resistant to the antibiotic fusidic acid? With a stop-motion movie at the atomic level, they can show that the resistance protein FusB works ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:07pm EDT

Defying Darwin: Scientists Discover Worms Rewrote Their DNA to Survive on Land

June 18, 2025 — New research is shaking up our understanding of evolution by revealing that some species may not evolve gradually at all. Instead, scientists ...

Heat-Tolerant Symbionts a Critical Key to Protecting Florida's Elkhorn Coral from Bleaching During Marine Heatwaves

May 16, 2025 — A new study reveals that heat-tolerant symbiotic algae may be essential to saving elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) -- a foundational species in ...

Novel Molecular Maneuver Helps Malaria Parasite Dodge the Immune System

May 16, 2025 — Researchers have discovered how a parasite that causes malaria when transmitted through a mosquito bite can hide from the body's immune system, sometimes for years. It turns out that the parasite, ...

School Dinners May Encourage Picky Teenagers to Eat Better, Says New Study

May 16, 2025 — Having school dinners rather than packed lunches could encourage picky eating 13-year-olds to eat a wider variety of foods, according to a new ...

Rediscovering the First Known Cellular Receptor

May 15, 2025 — Scientists are aiming to determine the composition and topology of physiological Ashwell-Morell receptor ligands. Their findings will help uncover the receptor's still-hidden ...

Genome of Near-Extinct Northern White Rhino Offers Hope for Reviving the Species

May 14, 2025 — The northern white rhinoceros is one of the rarest animals on Earth, with just two females left and no natural way for the species to reproduce. Now, ...

New Hope Against Superbugs: Promising Antibiotic Candidate Discovered

May 14, 2025 — An international team of researchers has discovered saarvienin A, a new type of glycopeptide antibiotic. Their findings introduce a compound with strong activity against highly resistant bacterial ...

Flamingos Create Water Tornados to Trap Their Prey

May 12, 2025 — Flamingos have developed an amazing variety of techniques to create swirls and eddies in the water to concentrate and eat brine shrimp and other organisms, a biologist found. They stomp dance to stir ...

Discovery of Antibiotic Resistance in Newly Identified Bacterium

May 10, 2025 — The recently discovered bacterium Staphylococcus borealis, named after the Northern Lights, turns out to be resistant to several classes of antibiotics. The elderly are especially at ...

Can Frisky Flies Save Human Lives?

May 9, 2025 — A scientist decided to find out why a bacterial infection makes fruit flies promiscuous. What he discovered could help curb mosquito-borne diseases and manage crop ...

Antibiotics from Human Use Are Contaminating Rivers Worldwide, Study Shows

May 9, 2025 — Millions of kilometers of rivers around the world are carrying antibiotic pollution at levels high enough to promote drug resistance and harm aquatic life, a new study warns. The study estimated the ...

Heart Rhythm Disorder Traced to Bacterium Lurking in Our Gums

May 9, 2025 — New research shows that the gum disease bacterium P. gingivalis can slip into the bloodstream and infiltrate the heart. There, it quietly drives scar tissue buildup -- distorting the heart's ...

Wasp Mums Use Remarkable Memory When Feeding Offspring

May 9, 2025 — Wasp mothers have stunning brainpower when it comes to feeding their young, new research ...

Bacteria: Recording Gene Activity More Efficiently

May 8, 2025 — Analysing the gene activity of every single bacterial cell in a colony? A new technique of single-cell transcriptomics developed in W rzburg can do this much more efficiently than other methods: It ...

Discovery Opens Up for New Ways to Treat Chlamydia

May 8, 2025 — Researchers have discovered a type of molecule that can kill chlamydia bacteria but spare bacteria that are important for health. The discovery opens the door for further research towards developing ...

Eating Ultra Processed Foods May Speed Up Early Signs of Parkinson's Disease

May 7, 2025 — People who eat more ultra processed foods like cold breakfast cereal, cookies and hot dogs are more likely to have early signs of Parkinson's disease when compared to those who eat very few ...

Fewer Parasites in the Indian River Lagoon Signal Big Ecosystem Problems

May 7, 2025 — Parasites are crucial indicators of ecosystem health, and their absence can signal trouble. Once pristine, Florida's Indian River Lagoon (IRL) now faces pollution and algal blooms that have ...

Junk Food for Thought: Landmark Study Directly Links Ultra-Processed Foods to Poor Health

May 7, 2025 — A landmark study exploring consumption of chips, frozen pizzas, breakfast cereals and other ultra-processed foods typically loaded with fat, sugar and additives has confirmed these foods are directly ...

Researchers Restore Antibiotic Effect in the Event of Resistance

May 7, 2025 — Bacterial resistance negates the effect of antibiotics in the treatment of infection. Using mouse models, researchers now show that if antibiotics are administered with an enzyme called endolysin, ...

Food as Medicine: How Diet Shapes Gut Microbiome Health

May 6, 2025 — Researchers show how mice fed a Western-style diet are not able to rebuild a 'healthy,' diverse gut microbiome following antibiotic treatment. These mice were also more susceptible to ...

Research Advances on 'Displacing' Antibiotic Resistance Gene from Bacteria

May 6, 2025 — Scientists have identified essential genetic code for a method called plasmid curing, which aims to 'displace' antibiotic resistance genes from ...

Fruit and Microbes Boost Biogas Production and Fermentation

May 6, 2025 — A new study shows that adding fruit and microbes to alfalfa, a protein-rich feed for livestock, improves fermentation and biogas ...

Topical Gel Relieved Ear Infections in Animals After Just One Dose

May 5, 2025 — Ear infections are a common and painful occurrence in infants and toddlers. Oral antibiotics are often prescribed for a week to treat the condition, but these drugs can trigger side effects that ...

Study of Facial Bacteria Could Lead to Probiotics That Promote Healthy Skin

May 1, 2025 — A study sheds light on when and how bacterial strains emerge on facial skin. The findings could lead to new treatments for acne and other conditions, and may also help optimize the timing of such ...

Designer Microbe Shows Promise for Reducing Mercury Absorption from Seafood

May 1, 2025 — Scientists inserted DNA-encoding methylmercury detoxification enzymes into the genome of an abundant human gut bacterium. The engineered bacterium detoxified methylmercury in the gut of mice and ...

Broader Antibiotic Use Could Change the Course of Cholera Outbreaks, Research Suggests

Apr. 30, 2025 — Recent disease modeling research challenges public health guidelines recommending conservative antibiotic use for cholera, suggesting that for some outbreaks, prescribing antibiotics more ...

Bacteria's Mysterious Viruses Can Fan Flames of Antibiotic Damage

Apr. 28, 2025 — Scientists built a model that allows them to diminish phage communities from a mouse gut microbiome -- and then bring them back -- without affecting the bacteria. On a test run of their model, ...

No More Copy-Pasting: DNA Base Editing for Better Lactobacillus Strains

Apr. 24, 2025 — A team was able to edit the DNA of Lactobacillus strains directly without a template from other organisms. This technique is indistinguishable from natural variation and enabled the researchers to ...

The Antibiotic That Takes the Bite out of Lyme

Apr. 23, 2025 — Piperacillin, an antibiotic in the same class as penicillin, effectively cured mice of Lyme disease at 100-times less than the effective dose of doxycycline, the current gold standard treatment. At ...

Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome May Be Driven by Remnants of Infection

Apr. 23, 2025 — Scientists believe they know what causes the treated infection to mimic chronic illness: the body may be responding to remnants of the bacteria that causes Lyme that tend to pool in the liver and ...