Scientists at the John Innes Centre in Norwich have discovered how parasites can manipulate plants into slowing down their ageing process. It is hoped understanding this process may help to prevent the loss of crops threatened by disease. Parasites attaching to plants can often lead to them failing to grow and reproduce. This means they…
The student guinea pig
We all understand the stress of thousands of pounds of student debt looming over us (sorry to remind you of that), but just how far would you go to pay off the money you owe? Some students are going to extents that may be considered extreme. In order to be paid sums of up to…
Real life Waters of Mars?
It may sound like an episode of Doctor Who, but scientists believe that they may have found an underground lake on Mars. Blurry radar scans of the planet reveal what is believed to be a frozen, salty reservoir some 12- miles across and lying around one mile beneath the surface of the planet’s South…
Buzzing for bacteria
With new technology paving the way for more intensive sustainable farming, like the use of monocultures and commercial forestry, a new study has revealed that honeybees are finding it harder to fight off diseases and to store food. As our global population increases, we are finding new and more landscape changing ways to ensure we…
Bacteria see by manipulating light like as does a human eye
Bacteria may not be the most interesting of topics, but a recent discovery may suggest otherwise. Biologists have cracked the mystery of how a tiny bacterium senses light and moves towards it: the entire organism acts like an eyeball. This was studied in single-celled pond slime, where the biologists observed how incoming rays of light…
Antibiotic dry spell may be over
Researchers have discovered 25 new antibiotics after developing a new technique for growing bacteria. Bacteria are abundant in soil – most of the bacteria currently used to make antibiotics are from the soil – but previously only a very small number could be grown in the laboratory. However, using this new method, it is thought…
UEA research reveals Achilles’ heel in antibiotic resistance
Jacob Beebe on an exciting new development in antibiotics research at UEA
Infectious Bacterial Treatments
Julie Bishop comments on the increase of harmful bacteria that are becoming resistant to anti-biotic treatments.
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