Our Search for Life in the Clouds(smithsonianmag.com) By collecting samples after climbing a high peak and firing rockets with special traps into the upper atmosphere, scientists have found microbes living in thin air
250 points by monkeydust 41 days ago | 108 comments
If it moves, it's probably alive: Searching for life on other planets(arstechnica.com) The search for extraterrestrial life has always been a key motivator of space exploration. But if we were to search Mars, Titan, or the subsurface oceans of Europa or Enceladus, it seems like all we can reasonably hope to find is extremophile microbes. And microbes, just a few microns long and wide, will be difficult to identify if we’re relying on robots working with limited human supervision and without all the fancy life-detecting gear we have here on Earth.
Bacterial World(ox.ac.uk) Bacteria survive, thrive, fight and die by the trillion every moment. They swim using nanoscopic motors, and battle with spears. They sense, communicate, remember. And as scientists discover more about these tiny organisms, it is becoming clear that bacteria wield huge influence over us, shaping Earth’s past, our present and the future for us all. We have only recently realised how much our lives are inextricably linked with the lives of bacteria. We really are living in a bacterial world.
Ryugu asteroid sample rapidly colonized by terrestrial life(phys.org) Researchers from Imperial College London have discovered that a space-returned sample from asteroid Ryugu was rapidly colonized by terrestrial microorganisms, even under stringent contamination control measures.
Clinical microbiologist explains why you should never kiss a baby(medicalxpress.com) There is a cognitive bias called "the curse of knowledge" (sometimes also called "the curse of expertise"). It happens when you incorrectly assume that everyone knows as much as you do on a given topic. As a clinical microbiologist, I assumed everyone knew that it was a terrible idea to kiss a newborn baby anywhere on its head.
101 points by bookofjoe 130 days ago | 61 comments
'Achilles heel' of antibiotic-resistant bacteria discovered(studyfinds.org) SAN DIEGO — In the ongoing battle against antibiotic-resistant “superbugs,” researchers have uncovered an unexpected vulnerability that could change how we fight these deadly infections – and it all comes down to a microscopic competition for resources.
Study reveals superbug MRSA's double defense against antibiotics(phys.org) Scientists have discovered the mechanism which allows the superbug methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) to become highly resistant to antibiotics, paving the way for new approaches to control infectious disease.