Hi! I’m Noémie Matthey, a scientific researcher by day and an illustrator by night. I always loved drawing and during my PhD it became obvious that I had to combine my two passions, science and art, to communicate scientific concepts to the public.
Bacteria can be harmless or dangerous to us and other organisms in the environment. But how does a bacterium become a fighter ready to kill others? It comes all down to their toxic bullets. Here we will look at how bacterial siblings use different weapons to fight off not only their enemies but also each other.
We live in an energy crisis in which non-renewable fossil fuels damage our planet. To switch to green biofuels as energy sources, we can rely on bacteria like Zymomonas mobilis, which produces bioethanol. Read on to find out how biofuel-producing bacterial communities can help us make this planet greener and healthier.
A deadly fungus kills many exotic amphibians. Luckily, some bacteria antibiotics to kill the fungal intruder and thus protect the animal. With this colourful strategy, the right microbial community might even save whole species from extinction.
To grow biofilms in water, bacteria need to properly glue themselves to a given surface. The bacterium Caulobacter crescentus produces a bacterial glue that is super strong so that the bacteria will not get washed away. Thanks to this glue, Caulobacter can settle down on almost any surface to build biofilms in water.
We have created a lot of toxin pollution. Now we need microbe’s help to degrade and remove toxic materials from our environment to make our planet greener.
Bacteria are constantly attacked by other microbes like viruses. But also bacteria developed mechanisms that make them immune to viral intruders. Read on to find out how bacteria fight off viruses to protect themselves and the whole bacterial community.
As a solution to our electronic waste problem, yet again bacteria come to the rescue! They can produce nanowires that one day we could use in our electronic devices. Plus, they are green and biodegradable!
Bacteria swim through liquids with their flagella. Some bacteria even have two flagella at opposite ends that help them to swim through mucus and slime. This movement helps bacteria to infect the human body. Now, researchers start to better understand how these flagella work together to move the bacterium forward.
In bacterial battles, there is more than just direct killing. Some bacteria even fight by destroying the houses of their opponents. We could learn a lot from these bacterial wars for our own fights against bacterial superbugs.
Bacteria also don’t like being lonely and need to know they are not alone. And often they need to talk to other bacteria and interact with them. To do so, they use a mechanism called quorum sensing. Read on to find out more about this fascinating mechanism.
To fight nasty microorganisms, researchers need to come up with new strategies to develop vaccines. Turns out bacteria are extremely helpful to researchers, since they provide valuable tools.
Learn how researchers use bacteria to find new vaccines.
To overcome the medical problem of how drugs can reach a specific target within the body, researchers try to use new approaches. These are often based on bacteria or their products. Here, we will explore drug transport mechanisms for which we could use bacteria and their amazing superpowers.
Producing plastics requires a lot of energy, which is a massive burden for the environment. Fortunately, bacteria already know how to make sustainable versions of plastics which we can use in our everyday life. Learn why bacteria produce natural plastics and why these molecules can help us save this planet.
When we eat plant products, we cannot always digest all their components. Instead, our gut bacteria love plant ploymers and start degrading and digesting them. And they share the leftover food with other bacteria, so that all of them together produce some very healthy molecules for us.
Throughout your day, you’re likely using several pieces of plastics. All this plastic waste takes up space in our landfills and overflows into rivers and oceans. Luckily, some bacteria can eat and degrade plastic to help us get rid of all this clutter. Read on to learn how plastic-degrading bacteria may be the key to a greener and healthier planet.
Scientists have found bacteria in our guts that degrade cholesterol. These bacteria can reduce our overall cholesterol levels and might have health benefits for us.
When thinking of bacteria, you might have the picture of a single cell in your mind. But interestingly, some bacteria come as multicellular organisms with advanced functions. Here, we will learn what multicellular bacteria are and why bacteria form multicellular organisms. We will then look at some colourful examples of multicellular bacteria.
Magnetotactic bacteria have magnetosomes with which they can sense magnetic field lines. This allows magnetotactic bacteria to swim towards North or South to find the perfect location in the deep and dark water.
When a bacterial cell grows, it needs to increase both the cell content and the cell envelope. To grow their outer membranes, bacteria transport lipids with ferries, bridges and tunnels from one side to the other. These transport means allow the whole bacterium to expand and thrive.
Bacteria produce many different molecules with unique tastes and smells. We and animals can react in specific ways to the bacterial molecules, however it is not always clear how these molecules actually help the bacteria. A new study focused on one such molecules and revealed that bacteria produce geosmin to attract small animals to use them to hitchhike.
Hi! I’m Noémie Matthey, a scientific researcher by day and an illustrator by night. I always loved drawing and during my PhD it became obvious that I had to combine my two passions, science and art, to communicate scientific concepts to the public.