Defeating Bacteria From the Inside Out
The world’s most ubiquitous organism could save millions of lives — if only they could get a new tryout.
David C. Richardson is a writer based in Baltimore, Maryland, specializing in topics related to science, the environment, and public policy.
The world’s most ubiquitous organism could save millions of lives — if only they could get a new tryout.
It’s a fish-eat-fish world out there, which is bad news for ailing fisheries providing feedstock for aquaculture. If only some key dinner-table species were vegetarians, smaller fish would be spared.
A microbiologist on the front lines of antibiotic resistance sees a lot of ways to improve the search and development of new antimicrobials.
Municipal waste — from poop to heat — can be a valuable resource that could run our cities more cheaply and sustainably, says a hands-on Canadian ecologist.
An annual Woodstock for honeybees highlights one of the factors leading to the pollinators' decline in North America. Perhaps keeping bees at home is the solution.
Tuberculosis and HIV are both high-profile global health scourges, but surprisingly little focus has been paid on treating them when they team up.
Fears that wind only provides power when it's blowing outside could be neutralized by drawing from a wide area — like the U.S. Atlantic coast.
Overcoming some of the obstacles that have hindered petri-dish-to-gas-pump schemes in the past, scientists are finding ways to produce high-octane fuel and even pure hydrogen from co-opted algae.
While Arunava Majumdar says America urgently needs to come up with clean-energy “game changers,” until now there hasn’t been a systematic approach to develop them.
Blocks of ice are joining molten salt and compressed air as ways to deliver yesterday's energy when it's wanted today.
A fungus linked to widespread destruction of U.S. bat colonies has been found on a thriving French bat.
Lots of urban kids are flocking to eat crappy food peddled by corner stores, but both kids and vendors can be shown a more nutritious way.
As the need to measure carbon absorption takes on global political and environmental import, researchers are rushing to resurrect a project that literally crashed and sank.
In sizing up a possible opponent's intentions, men make snap judgments based on the shape of the guy's head.
Researchers studying a mashup of existing data are tracking exactly where carbon is entering — and exiting — the atmosphere.
In a sequel to an experiment from the days of silent film, a multinational team of psychology researchers has shown that we perceive emotions based on what we bring to the table.
Researchers examining the recently unveiled genome of the honey bee think they've uncovered a big clue in dealing with the colony collapse disorder ravaging U.S. hives.
A persistent pest from China chomping on American trees spotlights the economic and aesthetic damage that foreign species may cause in new environments.
An experiment in subsidizing school lunches to use locally raised commodities pays off both in the cafeteria and in the regional economy, one study finds.
Merely identifying all the stuff orbiting Earth isn't enough to prevent mishaps. We need to know where it's going in data everyone can interpret.
While some experts say mum's the word when it comes to nanoproducts' environmental safety, others believe that cannot be good for the future of the technology.
Aside from global climate change, carbon dioxide emissions are contributing to another equally disturbing global problem: Ocean acidification — and its potential effects on marine ecosystems, especially coral reefs — has biologists very concerned.
A brace of therapies ranging from improved bone marrow transplantation to stem cell research may finally put sickle cell anemia on the run.
The collision of two satellites over Siberia highlights long-standing calls for a traffic management system and a no-littering policy in space.
A growing chorus of observers believes that nanotechnology needs better oversight, especially as it works its way into household staples like cosmetics and sunscreen.
Civil rights advocates fear that anti-terrorism fusion centers are overstepping their bounds.
For World Toilet Day (Nov. 19), we offer a chat with the author of the new book "The Big Necessity."
Bees do it. Frogs do it. And now scientists fear bats may be the next die-off victims.
Age-related dementia currently affects about 10 percent of the U.S. population — you could look it up on the Internet.
The lure of a cool blast costs 22,000 barrels of oil and pumps out tons of carbon dioxide.
Mother Nature needs to be allowed to protect New Orleans from ... Mother Nature.
Salt buildup in America's most productive farming area could idle thousands of acres. But there are, ahem, solutions ...
Caught between a rock and dry place, California tries automating farm water delivery.
Humankind can learn a lot from the power of circadian clocks and sunlight observation that are child's play to monarch butterflies.
North America's monarch 'is one of the largest of our butterflies and rules a vast domain.' But it's in trouble on both ends of its massive migration.
In the wildflower meadows of the West, we may be hearing the whisperings of a post-climate-change world.
The United States has built one of the most advanced technological societies the world has ever seen, but we still don't really know when spring starts.
Ecological sanitation, or 'ecosan,' can provide both improved hygiene and an income for the majority of the world, where just getting a sip of clean water can be a challenge.
The U.N. sees a dire need for even simple actions. Western businesses find it in their own interest to take heed of the need.