83 results
- Humans
Personalized diets may be the future of nutrition. But the science isn’t all there yet
How a person responds to food depends on more than the food itself. But what exactly is still a confusing mix of genes, microbes and other factors.
- Genetics
The first look at how archaea package their DNA reveals they’re a lot like us
Archaea microbes spool their DNA much like plants and animals do.
- Life
A rare rainstorm wakes undead microbes in Chile’s Atacama Desert
Microbial life in Chile’s Atacama Desert bursts into bloom when moisture is available.
- Oceans
In the deep ocean, these bacteria play a key role in trapping carbon
Mysterious nitrite-oxidizing bacteria capture more carbon than previously thought and may be the primary engine at the base of the deep ocean’s food web.
- Life
Ocean archaea more vulnerable to deep-sea viruses than bacteria
Deep-sea viruses kill archaea disproportionately more often than bacteria, a killing spree with important impacts on the global carbon cycle.
- Life
CRISPR had a life before it became a gene-editing tool
Before it was a tool, CRISPR was a weapon in the never-ending war between microbes and viruses
- Planetary Science
Readers intrigued by Mars’ far-out birth
Readers sent feedback on the Red Planet's formation, jumping genes and more
- Climate
Lakes worldwide feel the heat from climate change
Lakes worldwide are warming with consequences for every part of the food web, from algae, to walleye, to freshwater seals.
- Life
Year in review: Microbe discoveries spur rethink of treetop of life
Microbes discovered in Arctic mud this year could be the closest relatives yet found to the single-celled ancestor that made life so complicated.
- Microbes
Possible nearest living relatives to complex life found in seafloor mud
New phylum of sea-bottom archaea microbes could be closest living relatives yet found to the eukaryote domain of complex life that includes people.
- Life
Studying cheese reveals how microbes interact
Microbiologist Rachel Dutton uses cheese rinds to study how microbes form communities.
- Life
Body’s bacteria don’t outnumber human cells so much after all
New calculations show human cells about equal bacteria in the body.
