Bacteria

The filthy, stinking truth The filthy, stinking truth

The messy history of cleanliness, and why our obsession with dirt may be making us sick.
By Katharine Mieszkowski Nov 30, 2007

  • Ask the pilot

    Remember the sense of awe you used to feel on an airplane ride? Where did it go? Plus: The lowdown on that "filthy" and "germ-laden" cabin air.
    By Patrick Smith March 9, 2007

  • History as written by a "SimCity" freak

    Gifted amateurs defeated London's cholera epidemic in the 1850s, says culture/tech visionary Steven Johnson, and today a similar bottom-up approach to knowledge can improve neighborhoods, reform cities, even thwart terror.
    By Scott Rosenberg October 30, 2006

  • Dead or alive?

    A military biowarfare training program alarms nearby residents -- especially when the Army can't keep its story straight.
    By Terry J. Allen November 2, 2000

  • Attack of the killer nasties?

    The American Medical Association recently urged the FDA to tighten its control over antibacterial products. So what's stopping it?
    By Leah Kohlenberg June 23, 2000

  • Eating germs

    Our semi-sterile lives may be too much of a good thing. Now scientists are inventing "dirty" therapies to remedy our dangerous cleanliness. Second of two parts.
    By Susan McCarthy May 4, 2000

  • Talking dirty

    Bring on the germs. Too much cleanliness may be making some people sick. First of two parts.
    By Susan McCarthy May 3, 2000

  • Kicking for breath

    I watched as my brother almost died from asthma.
    By Frank Houston December 23, 1999

  • Voyage into the great unflossed

    A dental-phobic writer takes a trip into the cavity we call the mouth.
    By Susan McCarthy August 18, 1999

  • Got milk?

    New tests point to a fat compound in milk as a possible STD fighter.
    By Jon Bowen July 13, 1999

  • Scary as hell

    People are dying because antibiotics can't keep up with resistant bugs.
    By Arthur Allen June 11, 1999

  • It's a microbe's life

    Land of the free, home of the clean freak -- the latest round of microbial warfare has turned America into a paranoid hot zone.
    By Debra Ollivier February 22, 1999

  • No McNukes!

    Does irradiating meat and other food make it safer -- or create new health risks, especially to children?
    By Ros Davison December 17, 1997
Salon Directory › b › Bacteria (13 stories)

From Salon's blogs