Bacterial cells treated with a common antibiotic have been spotted changing shape to survive while aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The way bacteria act in near-zero gravity environments could pose a serious problem for treating astronauts with infections. The “clever shape-shifting” was detected in bacteria being experimented on in the near-weightlessness of space, and is believed to help
the bacteria survive. An experiment on the common E coli bacteria subjected it to different concentrations of the antibiotic gentamicin sulfate, a drug which kills the bug on Earth. However, in comparison to a control group on Earth, the space bacteria showed a 13-fold increase in cell numbers and a 73% reduction in cell column size. READ MORE
