One day soon, if someone is willing to do the work, whales could be analyzed in a manner similar to what’s been done with roller derby skaters. E! Science News reports about preliminary work that’s been done Amy Apprill and colleagues performed with bacterial from the skin of humpback whales: Bacteria are invisible to the […]
Tag: bacteria
PR headline of week: “Attractive Men Have Less Nasal Bacteria”
This week’s Press Release Headline of the Week is from a press release pumped out for the American Journal of Human Biology: Beauty & Bacteria: Slim, Attractive Men Have Less Nasal Bacteria than Heavy Men (Thanks to investigator Erwin Kompanje for bringing this to our attention.) BONUS: For students with a strong mental stomach: Read […]
Bacterial Transfer by Blowing Out Birthday Cake Candles
Knowledge accretes in bursts and puffs, as in this study: “Bacterial Transfer by Blowing Out Birthday Cake Candles,” poster presented at Clemson University’s 5th Annual Focus on Creative Inquiry Poster Forum April 12, 2010. Mentors: Paul Dawson and Inyee Han, Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition Students: Danielle Lynn, Jenevieve Lackey, Johnson Baker, Sutton […]
Applying bacteria to solve the Burnt Pancake Problem
The Burnt Pancake Problem — a mathematical problem whose history Simon Singh recently put in context, in an article in The Guardian — can be attacked by using bacteria. This paper explains how: “Engineering bacteria to solve the Burnt Pancake Problem,” Karmella A. Haynes [pictured here], Marian L. Broderick, Adam D. Brown, Trevor L. Butner, […]
A Preliminary Public Health Look at Hospital Fist-Bumps
On the theory that sometimes little things help lessen problems caused by little things, comes this little paper: “Reducing pathogen transmission in a hospital setting. Handshake verses fist bump: a pilot study,” P.A. Ghareeb, T. Bourlai, W. Dutton, W.T. McClellan, Journal of Hospital Infection, epub September 19, 2013. (Thanks to investigator Marek Hlavac for bringing […]
Nosocomical [sic] infections from Holy Water?
From a medical point of view, not all religious practices are always 100% risk free. See, for example, a recent Improbable article : ‘Official word: The body of Christ is not and cannot be gluten-free.’ But gluten intolerance is not the only area for concern – what about Holy Water in hospital chapels for example […]
Making cheese from humans’ foot, nose, armpit bacteria
“Make hay while the sun shines, but make cheese from places where it does not” is the unstated them of a project described in Christina Agapakis‘s Harvard PhD Thesis (and described more colorfully on her web site): “Descriptions of human body odors often overlap with those of cheese; Propionibacterium used to make Swiss cheese is a major […]
Tumbler test: a culinary medical term
The stethoscope [pictured here right] has almost become synonymous with medical practice – it is useful particularly for listening to patients’ chests and abdomens. A perhaps less well known piece of ‘medical equipment’ is the tumbler (drinking glass) [pictured here below]. Pressing a transparent tumbler against a rash and noting whether the rash fades or not […]
A man who pricked his finger & smelled putrid
Four doctors in Wales [at the hospital pictured below] rose to fame because of a man who pricked his finger and smelled putrid for five years. The doctors were hit nose-on with one of the most baffling medical mysteries on record. It all started with a chicken. The case ended happily – yet mysteriously – […]
Bacterial Builders, Inspired by Ancient Pyramids
The title of this study speaks volumes (albeit a bit cryptically): “A robotic micro-assembly process inspired by the construction of the ancient pyramids and relying on several thousand flagellated bacteria acting as micro-workers,” S. Martel and M. Mohammadi, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2009, IROS 2009. 10-15 Oct. 10-15,2009, pp. 426-7. (Thanks […]