126 results
- Life
A distant cousin of jellyfish may survive without working mitochondria
A tiny creature that parasitizes salmon is the first known multicellular eukaryote without a mitochondrial genome, a hallmark of complex life.
- Life
Microbiologists took 12 years to grow a microbe tied to complex life’s origins
Years of lab work resulted in growing a type of archaea that might help scientists understand one of evolution’s giant leaps toward complexity.
- Life
This is the first fungus known to host complex algae inside its cells
In the lab, an alga and a fungus teamed up to exchange food, similar to lichens. But instead of staying outside, the alga moved into the fungal cells.
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Epidemics and their aftermath
A century’s worth of science has helped us fend off infectious pathogens. But we have a lot to learn from the people who lived and died during epidemics.
- Genetics
Gene-editing tool CRISPR wins the chemistry Nobel
A gene-editing tool developed just eight years ago that has “revolutionized the life sciences” nabbed the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry.
- Genetics
A marine parasite’s mitochondria lack DNA but still churn out energy
Missing mitochondrial DNA inside a parasitic marine microbe turned up inside the organism’s nucleus.
- Life
A mash-up of yeast and E. coli shows how mitochondria might have evolved
An engineered partnership between yeast and E. coli suggests one way mitochondria may have evolved.
- 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.
- Health & Medicine
How an obscure sexually transmitted parasite tangos with the immune system
Scientists are working out how Trichomonas vaginalis, one of the most prevalent sexually transmitted infections, causes problems in women and men.
- Earth
Coastal waters were an oxygen oasis 2.3 billion years ago
Coastal waters contained enough oxygen to support complex life-forms including some animals hundreds of millions of years before fossils of such life first appear.
- Paleontology
Ancient microbe fossils show earliest evidence of shell making
Armor-plated, 809-million-year-old fossilized microbes discovered in Canada are the oldest known evidence of shell making.
- Science & Society
Readers inspired by SN 10 scientists’ research
Readers wanted to know more about the scientists' research who were profiled in "The SN 10: Scientists to watch."
