Germs do not spread at the speed of a Twitter text message. Still, germs can spread at an extraordinary rate, one which recently gave Union students a good reason to “tweet” their friends. They wanted ...

Have you ever wondered why most disinfectants indicate they kill 99.9% or 99.99% of germs, but never promise to wipe out all of them? Perhaps the thought has crossed your mind mid-way through cleaning ...

A new study reveals that bacteria can survive antibiotic treatment through two fundamentally different "shutdown modes," not ...

The spread of the H1N1 flu, the "swine flu," is thought to spread from person to person through coughing or sneezing. Health officials encourage you to wash your hands often with soap and warm water.

Think your porous wooden spoon is harboring dangerous bacteria? A leading microbiologist explains why wood might actually be ...

An estimated 2.8 million people in the U.S. contract infections each year from bacteria resistant to antibiotics, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. More than 35,000 of them die.

As flowers bloom and temperatures climb, many are eager to get back outside. But while the Sun may be shining, there is a dark side that can make the great outdoors not so great. Gangs of germs are ...

A friend of mine recently lost her security deposit at the holiday home she and her fellow hens were renting for a weekend. Why? Well, she dropped a microwaveable lasagne into the hot tub. Could ...

Scientists studying thousands of rats discovered that gut bacteria are shaped by both personal genetics and the genetics of ...

Bacteria possess unique traits with great potential for benefiting society. However, current genetic engineering methods to harness these advantages are limited to a small fraction of bacterial ...

The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. As flowers bloom and temperatures climb, many are eager to get back outside.

Germ theory is the idea that pathogens can invade the human body and cause disease — and it wasn't always accepted. Evidence for germ theory accumulated over time, and as it did, it butted against ...