Some microbes can be quite clingy.
Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterial species responsible for staph infections, latches onto human skin with one of the strongest biological bonds ever recorded, researchers report in the Sept. 5 Science Advances. This powerful grasp is strengthened by the mineral calcium, preventing bacterial cells from being washed or brushed away from skin.
An influx of calcium to damaged skin, such as a cut or a condition like eczema, is “a way of growing your skin faster,” says Rafael Bernardi, a biophysicist at Auburn University in Alabama. But “the mechanism that we use to fix a bruise is the same mechanism that the bacteria take advantage