UK & Europe in Opinion
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OpinionSafety and nutritional claims for raw milk
Robert F Kennedy Jr. famously advocates drinking raw milk and promotes its benefits. But how safe is unpasteurised milk? Nicola Holden and Gil Domingue, who sit on Applied Microbiology International’s Food Security Scientific Advisory Group, take a deep dive into the science.
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OpinionScience and the humanities in the crosshairs
The German Research Foundation (DFG) President Professor Dr Katja Becker issued a stark warning about the “war on science” and the need for solidarity at the organisation’s annual meeting in July. The Microbiologist reports her speech in full.
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OpinionIt’s game over for dangerous Gain of Function research
The Trump adminstration has signed an Executive Order halting federal gain of function research on microbes - but does it throw the baby out with the bathwater? Virologist Simon Wain-Hobson, Emeritus Professor with the Pasteur Institute, Paris, gives his take.
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OpinionSharing microbial sequence-based data: The way forward
Public sector data associated with health are a highly valuable resource, yet in practice data-sharing poses multiple challenges. Dr Nicola Holden, from AMI’s One Health Scientific Advisory Group, explores the murky morass of big data.
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OpinionWheat straw and muncipal waste - how next generation biofuels can save the world
With greenhouse gas emissions peaking, the search for renewables is intensifying. AMI Healthy Land Scientific Advisory Group member Juan Luis Ramos and his colleagues Estrella Duque and Patricia Godoy take a look at the future of biofuels.
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OpinionUnderstanding plant-microbe interactions to improve the cultivation of biofuels
AMI Global Ambassador Ashley Shade and colleagues Nicole Geerdes and Adina Howe examine how plant-associated microbes can be leveraged to support crops grown on marginal lands for use as biofuel feedstocks.
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OpinionOnce-subtropical Vibrio infections on the move along coastlines
As new stretches of coastline become vulnerable to potential Vibrio outbreaks in a warming aquatic environment, Applied Microbiology International member Elizabeth Archer examines how human health is inextricably linked with ocean health.
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OpinionA pivotal moment for cultivated meat
Across Europe, concerns are being raised about the potential dangers of a burgeoning technology that allows scientists to grow animal tissue, without the need for slaughter, as Jake Bell explains.
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OpinionAntimicrobial chemotherapy - which direction now?
The answer to antimicrobial resistance might not be the continual discovery of new antibiotics - but judicious use of the antibiotics and insights into antibiotic producing organisms we have already discovered.
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OpinionContinuous work on flood prevention is necessary to prevent microbial contamination: a case study in Styria
Lessons learned from the greatest local flood of the century in a province of Austria.
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OpinionSwimming with superbugs: the hidden threat in freshwater environments
AMI One Health Advisory Group member Elitsa Penkova delves into the growing antimicrobial resistance threat facing wild swimmers connecting with nature in rivers and lakes.
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OpinionNew RSV vaccines on the way - so what do we do about vaccine hesitancy?
Not one, but two promising new vaccines are likely to be introduced to the UK, yet routine childhood vaccination rates have been decreasing for ‘old’ diseases like measles and polio - what’s going on?
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OpinionFood poisoning pathogen keeps bouncing back
A major food poisoning outbreak 30 years ago linked to a fast food chain changed how we tackle food safety - so why does the pathogen responsible keep popping up?
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OpinionHow AI gives us food for thought
Michael Ukwuru reveals the many ways in which artificial intelligence could address global food safety challenges.
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OpinionThe threat of viral zoonosis hasn’t gone away
Why we’re liable to be ambushed by viral zoonosis - despite everything we’ve learned from Covid
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OpinionVexed concept of a ‘foetal microbiome’ refuted
A team of international experts has refuted scientific claims that human foetuses harbour live microbes during healthy pregnancies.
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OpinionShould bacteriophages be included in the environmental surveillance of risks associated with antimicrobial resistance?
The contribution of phage to environmental antibiotic resistance should not be underestimated.