Tag Archives: microbes

Vaginal Microbes Might Explain Why Only Some HPV Cases Result in Cancer

Lactobacillus organisms and vaginal squamous epithelial cell. Photo courtesy CDC.

A new study could help explain why some women with HPV develop cervical cancers while others do not.

The research suggests healthy vaginal microbes correspond to reduced risk of cervical cancer.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Arizona Study Links HPV, Cervical Cancer to Vaginal Microbes

Salty Subglacial Lakes Could Host Cousins to Otherwordly Life

Figure by Anja Rutishauser.

An international team of researchers has reported what may be the first two isolated, salty, subglacial lakes found on Earth.

The water pockets — one roughly the area of Arizona’s Saguaro Lake, the other about four-fifths the size of the state’s Apache Lake — differ from 400 other subglacial pools in that they are 4-5 times as salty as Earth’s oceans.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Finding An Alien World Half A Mile Beneath Canadian Ice

Arizona’s Kartchner Caverns Steeped in Science, Secrecy

Image of Kartchner Caverns
Photo courtesy Kartchner Caverns State Park.

When co-discovers Gary Tenen and Randy Tufts found the blowhole entrance to the caverns in 1974, they did something extraordinary: They kept it a secret.  And when they could no longer shield the caves through secrecy, they sought out science to help protect Kartchner Caverns post-development.

Research has supported Kartchner ever since, but the reverse is true as well. Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk to find out how:

At Arizona’s Kartchner Caverns, Science Supports Stewardship — And Vice Versa

For green energy, there’s no place like loam

Diagram of PMFC
Diagram by KVDP

Petroleum use is rife with environmental and security issues, and first-generation biofuels fall well short of carbon neutrality. Moreover, as global food crops literally lose ground to biofuel production, mounting scarcity is driving up food prices, increasing global hunger and political instability.

But what if we could have our rice and burn it, too? What if we could derive energy from crops without killing them, or generate power using plants and land not needed for food, all through the power of microbes?

How Plant-microbial Fuel Cells Work