Microbes
- Microbes
This amoeba eats prey like owls do
Meet the ‘owl slime’ amoeba, which drains its prey and spits out the shell.
By Jake Buehler - Life
This biophysicist’s work could one day let doctors control immune cells
The Stanford biophysicist thinks that understanding the mechanics of cell movement could allow scientists to manipulate immune cells.
By Meghan Rosen - Health & Medicine
HIV and illicit drugs are a bad mix. This scientist found an unexpected reason why
The neuroscientist considers themself an outsider, which allows them to embrace people who have been marginalized, including people who have HIV.
- Microbes
Some bacteria in your mouth can divide into as many as 14 cells at once
The filamentous bacterium Corynebacterium matruchotii has a unique reproductive strategy that might allow it to claim territory quickly.
- Neuroscience
Some healthy fish have bacteria in their brains
Animals including mammals usually protect their brains from infiltrating microbes that can cause disease. But some fish seem to do just fine.
- Microbes
A fluffy, orange fungus could transform food waste into tasty dishes
The fungus thrives on everything from soy pulp to bland custards, turning them into digestible foods with a surprisingly pleasant flavor.
By Anna Gibbs - Microbes
More than 100 bacteria species can flourish in microwave ovens
Swabs of 30 microwave ovens in different settings identified over 100 bacterial species, some of which could be pathogenic or cause food-borne disease.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, antibiotic resistant bacteria became a problem outside hospitals
Infections from drug-resistant bacteria have skyrocketed over the last 50 years. Now, new technologies could help doctors save lives.
- Health & Medicine
Getting drugs into the brain is hard. Maybe a parasite can do the job
Researchers want to harness the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis to ferry drugs, but some question if the risks can be eliminated.
- Oceans
Can bioluminescent ‘milky seas’ be predicted?
For the first time, a scientist has used ocean and atmospheric data to find a milky sea, a huge expanse of luminous water, in past satellite images.
By Bas den Hond - Agriculture
50 years ago, scientists ID’d a threat to California wine country
Fifty years after scientists identified the cause of Pierce's disease, which damages vineyards, there still isn't a cure.
- Life
This protist unfolds its ‘neck’ up to 30 times its body length to scout prey
With geometry’s help, 'Lacrymaria olor' can extend its long, necklike protrusion in less than 30 seconds.