Microbes

Health & Medicine

By taking on poliovirus, Marguerite Vogt transformed the study of all viruses

She pioneered the field of molecular virology with her meticulous lab work and “green thumb” for tissue culture.

Life

Probiotics help lab corals survive deadly heat stress

In a lab experiment, probiotics prevented the death of corals under heat stress, suggesting beneficial microbes could help save ailing reefs.

Animals

Viruses can kill wasp larvae that grow inside infected caterpillars

Proteins found in viruses and some moths can protect caterpillars from parasitoid wasps seeking a living nursery for their eggs.

Paleontology

3.42-billion-year-old fossil threads may be the oldest known archaea microbes

The structure and chemistry of these ancient cell-like fossils may hint where Earth’s early inhabitants evolved and how they got their energy.

Microbes

Missing Antarctic microbes raise thorny questions about the search for aliens

Scientists couldn’t find microbial life in soils from Antarctica, hinting at a limit for habitability on Earth and other worlds.

Health & Medicine

50 years ago, scientists found a virus lurking in human cancer cells

In 1971, scientists were building a case for viruses as a cause of cancer. Fifty years later, cancer-preventing vaccines are now a reality.

Microbes

These climate-friendly microbes recycle carbon without producing methane

A newly discovered group of single-celled archaea break down decaying plants without adding the greenhouse gas methane to the atmosphere.

Agriculture

Nanoscale nutrients can protect plants from fungal diseases

Applied to the shoots, nutrients served in tiny metallic packages are absorbed more efficiently, strengthening plants’ defenses against fungal attack.

Health & Medicine

The latest Ebola outbreak may have started with someone infected years ago

Rather than stemming from a virus that jumped from an animal to a person, this outbreak might have originated from someone who had a dormant virus.

Microbes

Archaea microbes fold, twist and contort their DNA in extreme ways

Single-celled archaea open and close their Slinky-like genetic material in a clamshell motion, possibly providing easy access to their genes.

Animals

Some bacteria are suffocating sea stars, turning the animals to goo

For years, researchers thought an infectious pathogen was behind sea star wasting disease. Instead, bacteria deplete the starfishes’ oxygen.

Health & Medicine

How some ticks protect themselves from deadly bacteria on human skin

A gene that ticks acquired from bacteria 40 million years ago may help the arachnids keep potential pathogens at bay while feeding on blood.