More Features
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Long Reads
Meet the microbes revolutionising the sustainable recovery of critical metals
As we strive towards a Net Zero society that is based on clean, green, and renewable technologies rather than fossil fuels, we are creating a new and intensifying reliance on another essential resource: metals.
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Features
From Earth to space - exploring fungi in extraterrestrial environments
Fungi are incredible organisms in terms of plasticity, resilience, and adaptation. However, they have the potential to both help and hinder us.
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Features
The birds, the bees, and the bugs: how gut microbes impact sex hormones and reproductive health
The gut microbiome has been tied to our reproductive health through its ability to produce, break down, and modify sex hormones.
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Features
Bridging the gap: mouse breath research to advance infectious disease diagnostics
The role of VOCs in health and disease is garnering increasing attention, particularly in their use as biomarkers for a wide range of medical conditions.
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Long Reads
Free-living amoebae and emerging public health challenges in a warming world
The year 2023 was the warmest since global temperature records were established in 1850. Discover the role of free-living amoebae in the transmission of waterborne pathogens and human infection, in the context of rising global temperatures.
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Features
Mars analogues and where to find them
“Are we alone in the universe?” is one of humanity’s oldest questions, with tremendous scientific and social ramifications. In search of answers, a great deal of attention has been focused on our closest neighbour, the red planet, Mars.
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Features
Nature’s pesticides: unleashing the potential of microbial interactions
Discover how scientists leverage knowledge of the microbial interactions that impact plant and animal health.
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Features
Cures in crisis: vulnerable fungal species and their role in folk medicine
While the usage of fungi as medicinal solutions has led to important scientific advancements, it has also placed potentially overwhelming pressure on certain fungal species and their natural habitats.
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Features
Microbiome research and a paradigm shift in urban building design
There is increasing evidence that this association between a host and its microbes not only determines health and disease but also influences the behaviour of humans and other animals.
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Features
Rising tides and microbes: how climate change Is reshaping aquatic life
As global warming raises sea temperatures, the effects have altered aquatic life - especially in microbial communities.
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Features
Discovering the microbial world on Galapagos giant tortoise shells
The Galapagos giant tortoises are not only a marvel of nature but also a symbol of conservation efforts, inspiring scientists around the globe to protect endangered species. They are living relics of a time when these slow-moving giants roamed the continents.
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Features
Microbiological concerns faced in cheese-making environments
Delve into the multi-facteted world of cheese production, discovering some of the major microbes, risks, and strategies for mitigation.
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Features
Using microRNA as a biosensor in aquaculture
Although tiny in structure, microRNA could have a huge impact on understanding life and unlocking the advancement of technologies.
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Features
Evolution of the Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus and its potential reemergence
Infectious pancreatic necrosis (IPN) virus has long been a persistent threat to aquaculture, particularly the salmonid industry. Could the evolutionary fitness of IPNV, governed by quasi-species theory and high mutation rates, lead to a new outbreak.
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Features
Tackling Norovirus with an improved disinfection system
Norovirus, also known in popular media as the ‘winter vomiting bug’ or ‘two-bucket winter bug’, is a highly infectious non-enveloped RNA virus that is a major cause of acute and chronic gastroenteritis.
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Features
Metabolomics: decoding the chemical language of life
Imagine if we could explore the entire molecular universe in our bodies, interpreting the intricate chemical changes related to health and disease at its most fundamental level.
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Features
Flour power: why it’s not a great idea to eat it raw
The UKHSA Food, Water and Environmental (FW&E) microbiology team has published a study on the safety and quality of flour sold in the UK and discovered that eating it raw is not a great idea!
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Features
Using living bioelectronics to treat chronic inflammation
How we can use the skin microbiota and biogenic polymers to treat autoimmune diseases.
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Features
Mitigating the effects of temperature fluctuations on microbiological research
Temperature fluctuation is one of the most significant drivers of sample degradation. How can laboratories mitigate this issue to protect their irreplaceable specimens from being compromised or destroyed?
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Features
What a waste: poop and plastic in the study of purple martin microbiomes
Sometimes questions on conservation in research can take multiple forms.