Life
This marine alga is the first known eukaryote to pull nitrogen from air
An alga’s bacterial symbiote has evolved into an organelle that turns atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia, making the alga unique among eukaryotes.
Microbes
More Stories in Microbes
- Microbes
Bird flu viruses may pack tools that help them infect human cells
Bringing along their own ANP32 proteins may give avian flu viruses a jump-start on copying themselves to adapt to and infect humans and other animals.
- Life
How disease-causing microbes load their tiny syringes to prep an attack
Tracking individual proteins in bacterial cells reveals a shuttle-bus system to load tiny syringes that inject our cells with havoc-wreaking proteins.
- Life
Bacteria fossils hold the oldest signs of machinery needed for photosynthesis
Microfossils from Australia suggest that cyanobacteria evolved structures for oxygen-producing photosynthesis by 1.78 billion years ago.
- Microbes
Evolutionary virologist Daniel Blanco-Melo seeks out ancient pathogens
Daniel Blanco-Melo has reconstructed two viral strains brought to the Americas with European colonizers in the 16th century.
- Life
Human cancer cells might slurp up bacteria-killing viruses for energy
In the lab, human cancer cells show signs of cell growth after ingesting bacteria-killing viruses, a hint our cells might use bacteriophages as fuel.
- Microbes
Watch: Recent microbial discoveries are changing our view of life on Earth
Videos capture the strange movements and predatory styles of protists — among the closest microbial cousins to multicellular life.
- Health & Medicine
Mexican virologist Susana López Charretón uncovered rotaviruses’ secrets
Knowledge of the complex dance between virus and host cell has led to the development of life-saving vaccines.
- Life
Young squash bugs seek out adults’ poop for an essential microbe
Squash bug nymphs don’t rely on their parents to pick up a bacterium they’d die without. They find it on their own.
- Life
‘Polyester bees’ brew beer-scented baby food in plastic cribs
Ptiloglossa bees’ baby food gets its boozy fragrance from fermentation by mysteriously selected microbes.
