New papers on Microbiology of the Built Environment, January 7, 2017

Microbes around the house Editorial: An emerging paradox: Toward a better understanding of the potential benefits and adversity of microbe exposures in the indoor environment – J. Mensah-Attipoe – Indoor Air (OA) In order to further explore indoor microbial exposures and their associated health effects, and to help establish research agenda priorities, a two-day workshop to …

New papers on Microbiology of the Built Environment, December 24, 2016

Microbes and buildings Bacterial Hygromorphs: Experiments into the integration of soft technologies into building skins – ACADIA 2016: Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture – Carolina Ramirez-Figueroa – Newcastle University (OA) The last few years has seen an increase in the interest to bring living systems into the process of design. Work with living systems, nonetheless, presents …

New papers on Microbiology of the Built Environment, December 10, 2016

Microbes on buildings Analysis of dark crusts on the church of Nossa Senhora do Carmo in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, using chemical, microscope and metabarcoding microbial identification techniques – Christine Gaylarde – International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation ($35.95) The dark crust on the surface of the Nossa Senhora do Carmo church, in the centre of Rio …

New papers on Microbiology of the Built Environment, December 3, 2016

Microbes and money Dirty Money: A Matter of Bacterial Survival, Adherence, and Toxicity – Frank Vriesekoop – Microorganisms (OA) In this study we report the underlying reasons to why bacteria are present on banknotes and coins. (…) We treated the various currencies used in this study as microcosms, and the bacterial loading from human hands as …

New papers on Microbiology of the Built Environment, November 12, 2016

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last posts due to some work-related trips and changing jobs. Since last week, I am the new Science Editor at uBiome. So here is a longish post to catch up with papers and news articles on microbes of the Built Environment. Microbes and buildings Popular press: ‘Living buildings’ …

New papers on microbiology of the built environment, May 8, 2016

Happy Mother’s Day! Here are your new papers on microbes of the built environment. Microbes in the house Assessment of Bacterial Communities in Thirteen Species of Laboratory-Cultured Domestic Mites (Acari: Acaridida) – Jan Hubert – Journal of Economic Entomology (WTH $39 for 1 day) House dust mites (HDMs) and stored-product mites (SPMs) of various species …

Review on Techniques for Protecting Cultural Heritage Materials from Microbes

Many cultural heritage materials, like statues and scriptures, are lost to microbial degradation. For these important relics of the past to continue to stand the test of time, it is important to be able to effectively test and identify microbes that will harm these materials. This 2016 review from Sanmartín et al aims to evaluate traditional …

A picture is worth a thousand bugs

Old photographs often are unique artifacts that provide a realistic look into the recent human history. However, many of these older printed photos are deteriorating, due to humidity, temperature, extended light exposure, and biodeterioration. Scientific Reports published a nice paper this week about the microbes found on and in old photographs, called Microbial communities affecting albumen photography heritage: …