Foreign Policy The age of infection Kim Lewis collects dirt. For the past decade, he and his colleagues—all scientists in Massachusetts—have asked friends and family around the United States to send them 1-gallon Ziploc bags of backyard soil. It might not seem like much, but it turns out that a little grime can hold a trove of groundbreaking scientific discoveries. In […]
Reader's Digest 50 Reasons Why You’ll Age Better Than Your Parents Older people are particularly vulnerable to infection, and the rise of superbugs that couldn’t easily be killed is even more worrisome. But in a major breakthrough, scientists from Northeastern University recently discovered the first new antibiotic in 30 years. Currently in trials, this drug, called teixobactin, could be available in the next five years, and is effective […]
A Smart Bandage To Let You Know When Your Wounds Are Infected As medical technology continues to advance, the lowly bandage continually gets left behind. Sure, it was exciting when Clear Strips bandages were introduced in 1957. And the Liquid Bandage, unveiled in 2002, is nothing to sniff at. But where are our sensor-filled Band-Aids? They’re coming soon, thanks in part to work being done by Ed Goluch, […]
Tech Republic Wikileaks’ CIA hacks: Apple says it’s already fixed many of the flaws mentioned If the leaked documents are verified, it could have major security implications for Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, and all other tech companies. However, it’s not exactly a surprise that these devices are able to be hacked, said Engin Kirda, professor of computer science at Northeastern University. “In the computer security world, it is widely known that […]
Boston-based researchers model the future of the Zika epidemic A new model based out of Northeastern University predicts that nearly 30,000 Zika virus infections have been imported into the United States as of June. The CDC reported only 1,657 travel associated cases. But don’t panic — at least, not yet. That’s the message from Northeastern University professor of computational sciences Alessandro Vespignani.
New Scientist There could already be 40,000 people carrying Zika in the US As many as 40,000 people in the US could already be carrying the Zika virus, having caught it while travelling abroad, a team analysing the epidemic has warned. This figure was calculated by extrapolating from the numbers of pregnant women who have been confirmed to be carrying the virus after visiting countries where it is […]
Scientific American Lyme disease may linger for 1 in 5 because of “persisters” These ideas stem from the observation of a few rogue bacterial cells. Kim Lewis, director of the antimicrobial discovery center at Northeastern University, and his colleagues grew B. burgdorferi in the laboratory, treated them with various antibiotics and found that whereas most of the bacteria died within the first day, a small percentage—called persister cells—managed […]
Mashable New antibiotic discovered in a literal pile of dirt A plastic storage crate filled with backyard dirt might have yielded the most powerful antibiotic discovered in decades. Employing a novel microfluidic device to grow soil bacteria, researchers in Boston and Bonn, Germany, say they have identified a new type of antibiotic that kills the bacteria that cause pneumonia, staph, and blood infections. The antibiotic, […]
Beyond the Anti-Prostitution Pledge: The Public Health Buck Does Not Stop Here Yesterday’s Supreme Court’s 6-2 decision in US Agency for International Development v. Alliance for Open Society International invalidated the “anti-prostitution pledge.” Advanced by religious and other anti-human-trafficking groups, this provision was integrated in the Leadership Act–the law that authorized the Bush Era’s flagship PEPFAR initiative to fight HIV/AIDS. At issue in this case was the Act’s condition […]