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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Bug Zappers"
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BUG ZAPPERS... THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. WE THOUGHT THAT WE WERE SO SMART WHEN WE DEVELOPED ANTIBIOTICS TO FIGHT BACTERIA--AND WE WERE. THEN, THE BACTERIA BEGAN TO FIGHT BACK, BY DEVELOPING THEIR OWN RESISTANT STRAINS--AND RENDERING SOME OF OUR WEAPONS USELESS. WELL, WE'RE STILL SMARTER THAN THE BACTERIA--BUT MAYBE WE NEED NEW WEAPONS TO KEEP US AHEAD OF THEM. GET READY FOR SOME REAL OUT-OF-THE-PETRI-DISH THINKING FROM RESEARCHERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON. BY CREATING DOZENS OF DIFFERENT CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS ON A FLEXIBLE PAPER SHEET, THEY CAN QUICKLY TEST LARGE NUMBERS OF MOLECULES, IN ORDER TO FIND ONES WITH ANTIBACTERIAL PROPERTIES. ALREADY, THEY'VE HAD SOME SUCCESS: THE TEAM HAS FOUND FOUR VERY PROMISING COMPOUNDS THAT APPEAR TO KILL BACTERIA AS EFFECTIVELY AS SOME OF OUR CURRENT ANTIBIOTICS. AND, THERE ARE COUNTLESS POSSIBILITIES STILL TO BE TESTED. SINCE BACTERIA CAN ADAPT TO NEW DRUGS VERY QUICKLY, THE RESEARCHERS KNOW THAT THE FASTER WE CAN TEST DIFFERENT COMPOUNDS, THE BETTER OUR CHANCES IN THE BATTLE TO BEAT BACK THE BUGS. IN THE WAR AGAINST BACTERIAL INFECTION, IN ORDER TO KEEP US HEALTHY, SOMETIMES YOU'VE GOT TO BE A LITTLE STEALTHY. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
