Tag: microbiology
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When a DNA Sequencer Finds a Bacterium: Why the Result Is Only the Beginning
Author: Kasem Jamil Al-Saloumi A portable MinION DNA sequencer being prepared for sequencing. Illustrative photograph; not from the author’s study. Credit: Mongan A.E., via Wikimedia Commons; CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MinION_portable_sequencer.png. Image unmodified. The first time a DNA sequencer gave me the name of a bacterium from a baby’s blood sample, I felt something…
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Electricity from bacteria: the future of clean energy?
Elle Bethune discusses how bacteria can power batteries, and how these can be used for clean energy on Earth and finding life in space. Clean energy has become a hot topic in science, and for good reason. While most of us have heard of wind, solar or even geothermal energy as alternatives to fossil fuels,…
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A future without malaria?
The mosquito could easily be termed the ‘most dangerous animal in the world’ due to its capacity to act as a carrier for infectious diseases such as malaria, zika, chikungunya and dengue which have deadly effects on human life. Diseases such as these are responsible for the death of over a million people worldwide every…