Are fresh strawberries looking as gorgeous in your neck of the woods lately as they are here in Kansas City? Literally every grocery store I’ve visited this past month has had an enormous display of ripe, juicy, red berries greeting shoppers as they walk in the door. And you’d better believe that sweet advertising has [...]
As the biologist prepared to enter a cave in Uganda, a village leader stopped her. Before they began searching for bats, the leader said, they would need to talk to the dead. So, on a day in early 2013, researcher Amy Gilbert sat on the dirt floor of a thatched hut, surrounded by a group [...]
As we walk through our daily environments, we’re surrounded by exotic creatures that are too small to see with the naked eye. We usually imagine these microscopic organisms, or microbes, as asocial cells that float around by themselves. But, in reality, microbes gather by the millions to form vast communities. Scott Chimileski and Roberto Kolter [...]
Abstract Indoor air quality (IAQ) in residential buildings is an issue of increasing importance. IAQ has a serious impact on human wellbeing, performance and health. In order to minimize negative consequences, considerable efforts are made to assure high quality of indoor air. Yet, attention should be payed to the fact that occupants, in particular their [...]
ABSTRACT Faecalibacterium prausnitzii is a highly abundant human gut microbe in healthy individuals, but it is present at reduced levels in individuals with gastrointestinal inflammatory diseases. It has therefore been suggested to constitute a marker of a healthy gut and is associated with anti-inflammatory properties. However, factors affecting the colonization of F. prausnitzii in the human gut during early [...]
Bacteria found on the outside of the International Space station could be alien life, according to a cosmonaut who has visited the satellite. Spacewalkers regularly take samples and materials from the outside of the station when they head outside for what are officially called "extravehicular activity". Those samples are then taken down to scientists on Earth, who study them [...]
As the connection between the gut microbiome and various diseases states continues to grow, researchers have begun to focus their attention on the early stages of human development and how early exposure to certain compounds can perturb the critical balance of species within the microbiota. An example of this type of research comes from a [...]
Seeing mold growing on an old piece of bread is creepy enough, but mold in the home is something next level. It might not be a problem you think about regularly, but if you feel like you have some weird health issues, you might be exhibiting some signs that you have toxic mold in your home. Since [...]
Most health professionals know about the ongoing hepatitis A outbreak that is ravaging the state of California, but they may now know about the outbreaks that have also sprung up in Michigan, Colorado, Utah, and now, Kentucky. Just last week, on November 21, 2017, the Kentucky Department for Public Health (DPH) declared an acute hepatitis A outbreak [...]
Abstract Plague is a potentially dangerous reemerging disease. Because modern outbreaks are relatively infrequent, data for epidemiologic study are best found in historical accounts. In 1905, the Rand Plague Committee published a report describing an explosive outbreak of 113 cases of pneumonic plague that occurred in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1904. Using these data, we [...]
