ScienceSeptember 6, 2026

asepsis

ay-SEP-sis

Definition

The state of being free from living pathogenic microorganisms or the methods used to prevent contamination by such organisms.

Etymology

Derived from the Greek 'a-' meaning 'without' and 'sepsis' meaning 'putrefaction' or 'decay'. It entered medical terminology in the late 19th century to describe techniques that maintain a germ-free environment.

In the news

In the article, asepsis was required on an industrial scale to keep fermentation batches free of contaminating microbes, preventing them from spoiling during the wartime production of chemicals.

About a tenth of what comes out of malt whisky production is spirit, while Scotland's malt whisky industry produces almost 750,000 metric tons of spent barley and 2 billion liters of copper-laced pot ale a year, residues one Scottish firm has fermented into a petr

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