Microbes
- Microbes
Are viruses alive, not alive or something in between? And why does it matter?
The way we talk about viruses can shift scientific research and our understanding of evolution.
- 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.
