LLNL physicist Matthias Frank measures the movement of DNATrax surrogate particles in a test chamber.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists are leveraging their extensive experience studying the movement of airborne hazards to better understand the movement of virus-like particles through the air and to identify effective countermeasures.
DNATrax released in a conference room.
While the burden of airborne diseases is known to be large, its true scope is underappreciated. LLNL researchers recently published a review in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology that highlights well-established cases of airborne viruses, bacteria and fungal pathogens causing disease in plants, animals and humans over distance scales ranging from a few meters to continental.
The research team led by Dr. Christine Kaimer from the Microbial Biology department at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) has taken a close look at predatory bacteria, which feed on other bacteria. Through microscopic examinations and protein analyses, they characterized the strategies used by the soil bacterium Myxococcus xanthus: It combines several mechanisms to kill structurally different prey bacteria, and also works in groups where necessary.
The presence of high salt and nitrogen concentrations in high- tunnel soils may make it more challenging to rebuild a healthy soil microbiome following a soil-clearing event, according to…
Rebuilding soil microbiomes in high-tunnel agricultural systems focus of study
Research conducted by microbial ecologists in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences aims to help farmers rebuild healthy soil microbiomes after a soil-clearing event.
Image: Pexels
Rebuilding soil microbiomes in high-tunnel agricultural systems focus of study
Amy Duke
February 08, 2021
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. The presence of high salt and nitrogen concentrations in high- tunnel soils may make it more challenging to rebuild a healthy soil microbiome following a soil-clearing event, according to microbial ecologists in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.
Their research findings have important implications for soil fertility, and by extension, crop health and yield, explained Laura Kaminsky, a doctoral candidate in plant pathology, who led the investigation under the guidance of Terrence Bell, assistant professor of phytobiomes.
Researchers Just Looked at Neanderthal Poop to Understand Their Guts
Photo: University of Bologna
Around 50,000 years ago, a bunch of Neanderthals made a home and a bathroom out of what is now a rocky escarpment south of Valencia, Spain. Over the last few years, some of those paleo-poops, the oldest known to come from a human species, have been excavated and analyzed. Now, researchers have caught a glimpse of the ecosystems that existed in the guts of those early hominins, from a fecal deposit in the remnants of a fire pit on the site.
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Over 200 bacterial microorganisms were extracted from the ancient poop by an interdisciplinary team of archaeologists, microbiologists, and anthropologists. The researchers found a striking amount of consistency between the microbial residents of the Neanderthal gut and the sort of microbes that populate the guts of modern humans. That consistency shows many minuscule denizens of our insides are actually longstanding residents, livi