microbe

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10K Microbial Species Inhabit ... You

 10K Microbial Species 
 Inhabit ... You 
new research

10K Microbial Species Inhabit ... You

Research could help with treatment of disease

(Newser) - After five years of research, scientists have developed the first genetic map of the "human microbiome"—the more than 10,000 distinct microbial species that reside on and in your body. To do so, they collected tissue samples from 242 healthy Americans from different sites (or "habitats"...

Inside Your Belly Button: A Ton of Mysterious Bacteria

 Inside Your Belly 
 Button: A Ton of 
 Mysterious Bacteria 
in case you missed it

Inside Your Belly Button: A Ton of Mysterious Bacteria

In 95 samples, 662 new strains found

(Newser) - Breaking science news: Your belly button is kinda gross. A new study, the amusingly named Belly Button Biodiversity project, found more than 1,400 strains of bacteria in 95 navel swab samples, the Washington Post reports. Of those, 662 couldn't be classified to a family—suggesting those microbes are...

Science Promises Cleaner Biofuels; Greens Wary
Science Promises Cleaner Biofuels; Greens Wary
ANALYSIS

Science Promises Cleaner Biofuels; Greens Wary

'Understanding the risks' of genetically engineered microbes is essential, some say

(Newser) - The future of alternative energy may lie with genetically engineered microbes that can efficiently convert sugar, or even sewage, into fuel, Yale Environment 360 reports. Small biotechs are using the tools of “synthetic biology” to create organisms that produce a range of carbon fuels without the extra energy expended...

Mars Was Too Salty for Life
Mars Was Too Salty for Life

Mars Was Too Salty for Life

Rock analysis shows even microbes couldn't have survived in planet's early history

(Newser) - Hopes that Mars may once have supported life have taken a blow with the discovery that the planet has been too salty for life for much of its history, the BBC reports. "It was salty enough that only a handful of known terrestrial organisms would have a ghost of...

Cancer Cures Hiding in Poisonous Lake

Scientists fish new microbes out of a toxic soup that kills

(Newser) - Two scientists may be fishing cancer cures out of an abandoned, poisonous lake, Wired reports. Don and Andrea Stierle are finding microbes in the green goup of an old Montana pit lake that don’t exist anywhere else – and happen to make compounds that inhibit a lung cancer and...

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