Inspired by viruses that attack and kill bacteria, researchers at The Rockefeller University have created an entirely new weapon against disease-causing bacteria that shows great promise for treating drug-resistant infections.
In work described in the Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences on April 17, the team engineered molecules that accomplish something viruses do much better than the human immune system; namely, targeting specific carbohydrate molecules that appear on the surfaces of bacterial cells.
"Bacteria-infecting viruses have molecules that recognize and tightly bind to these common components of the bacterial cell's surface that the human immune system largely misses. We have co-opted these molecules, and we've put them to work helping the human immune system fight off microbial pathogens," says Vincent A. Fischetti, head of the Laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis and Immunology.
In experiments with mice, Fischetti's team used this approach to successfully treat life-threatening infections by MRSA, a bacterium that is resistant to conventional antibiotics—results that suggest they may have found a new way to fight superbugs like MRSA.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday April 18 2017, @09:15PM (1 child)
I think your first paragraph is the well known "The CIA created AIDS to kill all the Africans".
The second question about string theory is it never got past the speculative math theory world, can't find anything that is testable, very "how many angels dance on a head of pin" type of thing so they've mostly faded out other than pseudoscience books, the same kind of thing selling pyramid power and crystal chakra healing or whatever.
Historically physics and math are never far apart but string theory is an example of geometric speculation that appears to have no connection at all with reality. Oh well. I mean the orbit of Jupiter is still cool even if it has no impact on my personality or likelihood of getting laid tonight.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 18 2017, @10:43PM
but but i thought the CIA is a secret brotherhood of priests worshipping jupiter? and, they get all the venus they want ... thus the real lover is a misfit with slited eyes called hephestos and he knows how to use a hammer ...