Storm over science: predatory practices and the fight for research reliability Abstract. Scientific publishing faces a credibility crisis driven to a very large extent by predatory journals, paper mills, and exploitative open-access (

Now the same in the shape of a well-formatted article 👇 academic.oup.com/microlife/ar...

DNA Identifies 2 Bacterial Killers That Stalked Napoleon’s Army

“It was not wounds of battle that killed most of these men…
“The attrition of the army is extraordinary,” Dr. Harper said, “and underscores how much prior to the 20th century what we think of as wars are primarily medical events.”
The infections, he added, “are diseases that exploit human suffering”

A plasmid golden ratio? 🧬
Plasmid copy number ≈ 2.5% of chromosome size—consistent across bacterial species!
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... @jerorb.bsky.social
🧪 #microbesky

How Shoddy Science Is Driving A Supplement Boom Questionable science, lax regulations, and wellness culture have turned dietary supplements into big business.

Dietary supplements have become big business. But how effective are they? And how are they regulated?

Florida’s surgeon general said he didn’t calculate the costs of ending vaccine mandates in the state. But scientists have. | CNN Florida’s surgeon general said Sunday that he had not weighed the cost – in terms of infections, hospitalizations or deaths – of ending vaccine mandates in the state. But scientists who have done thos...

In Florida alone, a 15% decline in vaccinations against measles over 25 years would lead to 1 million measles cases. www.cnn.com/2025/09/09/h...

Very cool 😎

Bacterial amyloids (like curli) are a defense mechanism against predatory bacteria

Congratulations on great work
@hannahledvina.bsky.social

@aaronwhiteley.bsky.social
and all coauthors
🧪 #microsky

Intestinal bacterium allows microbiome-mediated protection against pathogens The totality of bacteria, viruses and fungi that exist in and on a multicellular organism forms its natural microbiome. The interactions between the body and these microorganisms significantly influen...

phys.org/news/2025-06...

Emerging antimicrobial therapies for Gram-negative infections in human clinical use - npj Antimicrobials and Resistance npj Antimicrobials and Resistance - Emerging antimicrobial therapies for Gram-negative infections in human clinical use

Emerging antimicrobial therapies for Gram-negative infections in human clinical use

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Chromosomal resistance mutations facilitate acquisition of multidrug-resistance plasmids in Escherichia coli Bacteria can gain multiple resistance mechanisms in a single step by the acquisition of multidrug-resistance (MDR) plasmids, but it is unclear how antibiotic selection during the acquisition of MDR pl...

New preprint with nice detective work by PhD student Khadija Hanga: gain of pOXA MDR plasmid is facilitated by chromosomal mutations affecting OmpF which act synergistically with the plasmid’s carbapenamase to give high level resistance. Led by @mbottery.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The nucleoid of rapidly growing Escherichia coli localizes close to the inner membrane and is organized by transcription, translation, and cell geometry - Nature Communications The mechanisms underlying bacterial chromosome configuration are not fully understood. Here, Spahn et al. show that the Escherichia coli nucleoid adopts a condensed, membrane-proximal configuration du...

I forgot to post about this recent paper - exciting work led by @michriscopy.bsky.social showing clearest evidence yet for transertion strongly tethering the bacterial nucleoid to the membrane during fast growth. It was a pleasure to contribute a little 🔬🦠🧫 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#MicroSky and beyond

Recent genetic drift in the co-diversified gut bacterial symbionts of laboratory mice - Nature Communications Here the authors show that lab mice have retained ancient gut bacterial symbionts that diversified in parallel with rodent species, but the genomes of these gut bugs have accumulated mutational burden...

Lab mice (domesticated for >100y) have kept gut bacterial strains that codiversified w/ rodents for >25My. Here, authors show genetic drift occured in the lab, leading to loss of microb diversity+more deleterious mutations, impacting microbial fitness in lab vs wt mice
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How sugar might shape superbugs Dr Rebecca J Hall takes us behind the scenes of their latest publication '<a href="https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001548">Glucose alters the evolutionary…

Read our latest blog to find out how @DrRebeccaJHall and colleagues are trying to understand more about the effects of glucose in the urinary tract on the treatment of urinary tract infections caused by uropathogenic E.coli .

Pseudouridine Stabilizes tRNA Noteworthy — The modified nucleoside pseudouridine has many reasons to be considered a star among post-transcriptional RNA modifications. It was the first to be identified, in 1960. Incorporating it i...

schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2...
#MicroSky #RNASky

The nucleoid of rapidly growing Escherichia coli localizes close to the inner membrane and is organized by transcription, translation, and cell geometry - Nature Communications The mechanisms underlying bacterial chromosome configuration are not fully understood. Here, Spahn et al. show that the Escherichia coli nucleoid adopts a condensed, membrane-proximal configuration du...

"E. coli nucleoid adopts a condensed, membrane-proximal configuration during rapid growth, an active role of transertion (coupled transcription, translation, and membrane insertion) in nucleoid organization" #microsky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Cutting-edge tools for structural biology: bringing AlphaFold to the people The recent application of artificial intelligence-based prediction of protein and protein complex structures by AlphaFold has revolutionized biology. Here, we give an overview of the tools that make t...

Cutting-edge tools for structural biology: bringing AlphaFold to the people

@cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social Forum by @c-elfmann.bsky.social and @joergstuelke.bsky.social

www.cell.com/trends/micro...

World may be ‘post-herd immunity’ to measles, top US scientist says As infections pummel communities in the US, Mexico and Canada, fear of ‘the most contagious human disease’ grows

😧 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

All life on Earth comes from one single ancestor, now we know what it was Researchers found LUCA, our earliest common ancestor, lived 4.2 billion years ago. It had a complex biology, affecting its environment.

www.earth.com/news/luca-la...

A graph showing reported measles cases in the United States. The line shows that there were regularly 400-600,000 cases each year until 1963, when the measles vaccine was licensed, at which point cases plummet. In 2000, the elimination of measles was declared.

Vaccines have granted families in wealthy countries the luxury of forgetting what measles, polio, rubella, and other preventable diseases are like.

We're looking at how many millions of lives vaccines have saved.

Read the full story: https://go.nature.com/42Aj3Y8

A breakthrough moment: Researchers discover new class of antibiotics The last time a new class of antibiotics reached the market was nearly three decades ago—but that could soon change, thanks to a discovery by researchers at McMaster University.

phys.org/news/2025-03...

Behind every great woman in science, there’s another great woman in science To mark International Women’s Day on 8 March, six award-winning female scientists highlight women who have inspired them by pushing innovative research and creating opportunities for others.

To mark International Women’s Day, six award-winning female scientists told Nature about the women who have inspired them by pushing innovative research and creating opportunities for others. #WomenInStem 🧪

Patagonian 'Living Rocks' Trace Their Origins To The Beginning Of life On Earth - Astrobiology In the Patagonia region of southern Chile, there are “living rocks.”

I love this story so much. Adventure and microbiology.

astrobiology.com/2025/03/pata...

Against a blue background, graphic representation shows a diverse group of women holding a megaphone and placard. In the background are two yellow and black striped tapes. The text reads 'Women's health needs change from the time they are born to older age. But they often hit roadblocks to receive the right diagnosis and treatment they need.'

Today is #InternationalWomensDay

Progress on #GenderEquality in health care is too slow.
Women have distinct & changing health needs at different stages of their lives. Health care should be easy to access, fair & tailored to meet each woman’s unique needs & circumstances.

🔗 bit.ly/3DmZQ2o

Happy 37th birthday to the LTEE!
the-ltee.org/history/

As bird flu cases rise, farmers seek ways to protect raw milk | CNN Health officials warn raw milk is one of the riskiest foods people can consume, noting that prior to the required pasteurization of milk, up to 25% of foodborne illnesses came from it. As raw milk con...

The answer is pasteurization (since 1860)! edition.cnn.com/2025/02/22/h...

This is figure 1, which shows the global distribution of study locations of pesticide impact on non-target organisms.

A study in Nature Communications found that insecticides, fungicides and herbicides have negative effects on non-target plants, animals and microorganisms within terrestrial and aquatic systems. https://go.nature.com/4aY865i 🧪

A painting of Louis Pasteur with germs in the background, and a flask in the foreground showing him climbing a glacier.

AIR-BORNE EXCERPT! Louis Pasteur climbed a glacier to hunt for floating germs. There he discovered a fundamental truth about all life. Here's the story, from my new book. [Gift link] Artwork by Antoine Maillard. 🧪 1/2 www.nytimes.com/2025/02/17/s...

Timeline 'R' Us — Superbugs - The microbial world in, on and around us Of superbugs and superheroes. Timeline 'R' Us – Explore devastating infections through the ages, alongside crucial scientific discoveries to help control them.

Explore our interactive timeline of devastating infections through the ages, alongside crucial scientific and medical advances to help control them.

In English, German, Spanish, Welsh, Irish and Gaelic.

#ScienceMatters

🦠🧫🔬😷💊💉

Resolving spatiotemporal dynamics in bacterial multicellular populations: approaches and challenges | Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews SUMMARYThe development of multicellularity represents a key evolutionary transition that is crucial for the emergence of complex life forms. Although multicellularity has traditionally been studied in...

Nice occasion for 1st post! Our contribution with Liraz Chai (not yet on 💙sky) to the review on modern methods to study #biofilms headed by Susann Müller (same) and members of #SPP2389 @emmanuel-saliba.bsky.social @knutdrescher.bsky.social @cyanolab.bsky.social
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...