Unexpected beauty, major antimicrobial power boost as phages form into flower shapes

Researchers preparing slides of live bacteriophages were surprised to see them link and form naturally into three-dimensional flower shapes in reaction to contact with high-pressure carbon dioxide. The discovery is welcome news for researchers who had been trying to network phages articifially to boost their power.

Plants of the Kaliningrad region turned out to be rich in antioxidants and antimicrobials

Scientists from the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University stated that the biological activity of extracts of four plants that growing in the Kaliningrad region is provided by phenolic compounds — aromatic alcohols. These substances provide antioxidant and antimicrobic properties to Aesculus hippocastanum, Melilotus officinalis, Eryngium maritimum, and Hedysarum neglectum.

Too many COVID-19 patients get unneeded “just in case” antibiotics

More than half of patients hospitalized with suspected COVID-19 in Michigan during the state’s peak months received antibiotics soon after they arrive, just in case they had a bacterial infection in addition to the virus, a new study shows. But testing soon showed that 96.5% of them only had the coronavirus, which antibiotics don’t affect.