As bacteria become increasingly (and worryingly) resistant to antibiotics, scientists are recruiting bacteriophages—a bacteria’s sworn evolutionary enemy—to fight against these troublesome “superbugs.

A 'silent' mutation in the genetic code of bacteria has been discovered by UK researchers, offering hope for future microbial treatments. The authors of new research, published in the Proceedings of ...

Antibiotics can destroy many types of bacteria, but increasingly, bacterial pathogens are gaining resistance to many commonly used types. As the threat of antibiotic resistance looms large, ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. GrrlScientist writes about evolution, ecology, behavior and health. Once hailed globally as “miracle drugs”, antibiotics have ...

Do bacteria mutate randomly, or do they mutate for a purpose? Researchers have been puzzling over this conundrum for over a century. In 1943, microbiologist Salvador Luria and physicist turned ...

Queensland researchers have discovered that a mutation allows some E. coli bacteria to cause severe disease in people while other bacteria are harmless, a finding that could help to combat antibiotic ...

Bacteria can acquire resistance to antibiotics through random mutations in their DNA that provide them with an advantage that helps them survive. Finding genetic mutations, and discovering how they ...