Antibiotics are used to treat dangerous diseases. Over time, however, bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics - which poses a threat to humans and animals alike. In this paper, the authors examine how E. coli gains resistance to the antibiotic amoxicillin.

Malaria is a major public health issue, especially in developing countries, and vector control is a major facet of malaria eradication efforts. Recently, sterile insect technique (SIT), or the release of sterile mosquitoes into the wild, has shown significant promise as a method of keeping vector populations under control. In this study, the authors investigate the Anopheles gambiae transglutaminase 3 protein (AgT3), which is essential to the mating of the Anopheles mosquito. They show that an active site mutation is able to abolish the activity of the AgT3 enzyme and propose it as a potential target for chemosterilant inhibitors.

Agricultural fertilizer application is a key innovation in providing enough food to feed the world. Fertilizers come in various types and farmers must choose which fertilizer is the best for their applications. To learn more about the effectiveness of various fertilizers, Wilson and Rasmus studied the effects of natural and chemical fertilizers on growth of basil plants.

Here the authors investigate the effects of plastic pollutants on terrestrial life. Specifically they look at the growth of Brassica rapa and determine that phosphate levels have the most negative impact on growth.

Microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi live everywhere in the world around us. The authors here demonstrate that these predominantly harmless microbes can be isolated from many household locations that appear "clean." Further, they test the cleaning power of 70% ethanol and suggest that many "clean" surfaces are not in fact "sterile."

In the battle against Alzheimer's disease, early detection is critical to mitigating symptoms in patients. Here, the authors use a collection of MRI scans, layering with deep learning computer modeling, to investigate early stages of AD which can be hard to catch by human eye. Their model is successful, able to outperform previous models, and detected regions of interest in the brain for further consideration.

In this study, the authors determine optimal pH levels for maximizing isopropanol degradation in water. This has important applications for cleaning up polluted wastewater in the environment.

The authors tested environmentally-friendly alternatives to wastewater treatment chemicals, including activated charcoal for filtration and citrus peels for preventing bacterial growth.

This study focused on finding more sustainable growing methods that reduce chemical fertilizer or water usage and can be used at the household level for garden plants. Metrics for healthy plant growth were height at first bloom, growing time, and survival rate. The Deep Water Culture (DWC) treatment for garden cress plants significantly increased the height at first bloom compared to the control group. For rates of surviving plants, the treatments had little effect on garden cress, but the Eggshell Grounds, Wick System, and DWC system groups outperformed the control group for marigolds.

With growing demands for ethanol, many researchers are turning to Panicum virgatum (switchgrass) as a feedstock of cellulosic ethanol. In this study, Ferris and Gillan examine the germination, biomass, nitrogen, survival, and chlorophyll absorbance of two switchgrass cultivars of grown in competition with Bromus inermis (smooth brome) with two varying levels of nitrogen fertilizer. Results presented indicate that during establishment, competition from other species has a greater effect than nitrogen fertilizer.