Worldcrunch
Researchers say “sickness behavior” mimics mild depression as immune cytokines signal the brain to conserve energy, making people listless and withdrawn. Yet it differs from true depression and varies widely depending on mindset, stress and loneliness.
At universities and startups around the globe, researchers are searching for microbes, bacteria, fungi and algae that could serve as a substitute for ingredients like eggs, milk, meat, and flour.
A new French research laboratory was recently opened on the University of Rennes campus. The experimental facility, equipped with boreholes that reach 300 feet deep, focuses on studying soils and the microbiology of the underground.
French researchers have recovered a pair of viruses that were long frozen below the Siberian tundra. In this case, the microorganisms are harmless, but others may not be.
PARIS – The combination of the Arab Spring and the economic crisis in southern Europe has led to a quiet panic spreading in hospitals across the Mediterranean Basin. “With the disorganization of medical services, the number of infections resisting most known antibiotics has literally exploded,” says professor Patrice Nordmann, chief of the bacteriology-virology-parasitology department at […]
ROTTERDAM – Governments are well aware of the danger, but consumers have no idea. One out of five freight containers arriving in European ports has been fumigated with extremely dangerous, carcinogenic or neurotoxic gases. It is a vast phenomenon: one million containers filled with imported goods arrive in Europe by ship every week. These toxic […]
ECOBLOG, LA STAMPA (Italy) Worldcrunch ROME– More than 40 dead dolphins have been found washed ashore along the western coast of Italy since January 5. La Stampa reports that the locations where the dolphins have been found span more than half the western coastline, from Tuscany to Calabria, as well as the island of Sicily, […]
THE TELEGRAPH, THE BBC (UK) Worldcrunch LONDON – That mindless — and seemingless harmful — act of leafing through waiting-room magazines can pose real health risks, according to National Health Service (NHS) officials in the UK. Officials have warned dentists around the country that old magazines may be responsible for spreading bacteria and should be […]
RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazil’s largest mining company Vale has developed, in partnership with the University of São Paulo (USP), a method to identify bacteria and fungi capable of “eating” copper. What exactly does that mean and why does it matter? Now with this process, waste generated by copper processing — one of the steps […]