Micro Eclectics

Breast-feeding is back. When it comes to early establishment of gut and immune health for babies, 'breast is best' according to a new study of how 'good' bacteria arrive in babies' digestive systems. How babies acquire a population of good bacteria can also help to develop formula milk that more closely mimics nature.  The researchers found the same strains of Bifidobacterium breve and several types of Clostridium bacteria, which are important for colonic health, in breast milk, and maternal and/or neonatal faeces. Strains found in breast milk may be involved in establishing a critical nutritional balance in the baby's gut and may be important to prevent intestinal disorders. Professor Christophe Lacroix at the Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH-Zurich, Switzerland, said,"We are excited to find out that bacteria can actually travel from the mother's gut to her breast milk. A healthy community of bacteria in the gut of both mo...

Smartphones are everywhere, and they may tell something about you that you didn't realize could be told. When we touch things we give it our 'germs' and that knowledge could tell researchers something about our personal microbial world. Our phones can be biological and environmental sensors. To test our biological connection with phones, University of Oregon researchers sequenced microbes from the dominant-hand index fingers and thumbs of 17 subjects and from the touchscreens of their smartphones, during a recent Robert Wood Johnson Foundation workshop in Princeton, New Jersey. Our cell phones reflect the personal microbial world of their owners with potential implications for their use as bacterial and environmental sensors. Credit: James Meadow The study found smartphones closely resembled the microbiome sampled from their owner's finger, with 82 percent of the most common bacteria on participants' fingers also found on their phones. Interes...