From engineering bacteria that degrade plastics to microbes that produce antibiotics, fuel and vegan milk, synthetic biology is revolutionizing the world as we know it. Soon, this discipline will enable applications that would have sounded like sci-fi a decade ago, in sectors as diverse as energy sourcing, health or agriculture. However, behind these applications, there [...]
1. This bacterium will self-destruct in 30 seconds! 💣 Scientists have developed a new mechanism that instructs engineered #bacteria to die after carrying out their task 🦠 If there is one thing that all living beings share, it is that we all want to stay alive. That is why programming an [...]
1. Punk is not dead — it just turned eco-friendly! Scientists have developed a new leather fabric with no plastics or animals involved, only #fungi! 🕶️🍄 Until now, we´ve had two ways to make a leather jacket: One involves using animal tissue, which consumes energy, produces waste and involves animal suffering [...]
1. #DNA à la carte! 🧬🍽️ That’s the goal of these scientists from @DNAScript and their ambitious project to create a DNA-printer! When scientists need specific DNA for their research, they usually have to order it from a company specialised in DNA manufacture. This happens because tailored DNA is expensive and [...]
1. Microbial mummy awakens! 🦠💀 Researchers recovered organism samples from the seafloor, deposited up to 100 million years ago - and found they are alive! 🌊 If there is something that surprises scientists about microbes it’s their survival skills. There are some species that are able to grow under extreme conditions, [...]
1. The ultimate #DNA “USB”? This new approach can boost DNA Data Storage! 🧬 In the same way that computers save information in binary code, cells store theirs in a 4 letter code - G,A,T and C, which are the abbreviations of four molecules: guanine, adenine, thymine and cytosine. These four [...]
1. Humans have millions of #microbes living in our guts, in our skin… and in our noses! 👃🦠 These “nosy” #bacteria may be protecting us from pathogens! 👇 Every day of our lives we host billions of microbes in our body. Some of them have no effect on us with us, [...]
1. They are invisible to our eyes… but #AwesomeMicrobes do a lot for us! 🦠 Here you have some good examples! 👇 #bacteria If you think about the word “bacteria”, the first thing that may come to your mind is a combination of terrible illnesses and rotten food. But bacteria and [...]
In these uncertain times marked by the COVID-19 pandemic we have strived to raise awareness about the brighter side of the microbial world. In our aim to bring microbiology closer to society, and particularly to the youngest, we have developed an educational outreach activity to introduce children to microorganisms in general and bacteria in particular. [...]
1. #Bacteria are everywhere… also in our tongues! 🦠👅 You can see them in these astonishing pictures! 👇 There are trillions of bacteria living in different parts of our bodies, and many of them have made their homes in our tongues. Different microbes live on this organ and, surprisingly, they have [...]
