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Acidifying Oceans Could Upset Life’s Nitrogen Cycles
An experimental simulation of near-future changes in ocean chemistry suggests that aquatic nitrogen cycles could be profoundly disrupted, altering the basic structure of Earth’s food webs. Nitrogen is...
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Drill Close to Reaching 14-Million-Year-Old Antarctic Lake
By Duncan Geere, Wired UK Lake Vostok, which has been sealed off from the world for 14 million years, is about to be penetrated by a Russian drill bit. The lake, which lies 2.5 miles below the icy...
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Synthetic Genes Sub for Natural Ones in Microbe Experiment
A handful of bacterial genes crucial to survival were successfully replaced by artificial ones in a new synthetic-biology experiment. It’s not clear how the synthetic genes rescued the doomed E. coli...
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Slime Molds Are Earth’s Smallest, Oldest Farmers
Colonies of a bizarre microbial goo have been found practicing agriculture at a scale tinier than any seen before. Animals such as ants, snails and beetles are known to farm fungus. But the slime...
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Bacterial Biofilms Beat Teflon in Repelling Liquids
Slimy mats of bacteria called biofilms may be the most liquid-repellent materials in nature, researchers have discovered. “There are a few man-made materials that can perform better, and they have to...
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Gut Microbes May Foster Heart Disease
Even the best of friends can be heartbreakers. Friendly bacteria living in the intestines may contribute to heart disease just by helping digest dietary fats. Bacteria that break down a fat found in...
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Developer of Robot Scientist Wants to Standardize Science
After an update to its software, a robot scientist has recycled its previous research to make a new biological discovery. Named Adam, the van-sized robot came to scientific fame after autonomously...
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Antarctic Lake Hides Bizarre Ecosystem
In the eerie bluish-purple depths of an Antarctic lake, scientists have discovered otherworldly mounds that tell tales of the planet’s early days. Bacteria slowly built the mounds, known as...
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Oldest, Oddest Fungi Finally Photographed
Images of little dots, some wriggling a skinny tail, give scientists a first glimpse of a vast swath of the oldest, and perhaps oddest, fungal group alive today. The first views suggest that unlike any...
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The Original Noah’s Ark: Pond Scum
Like exhausted nightclubbers, early animals may have weathered their harsh lifestyle by squirming up to the oxygen bar. Animals living more than 550 million years ago could have survived inhospitable...
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Hacked Fat-Burning Cycle Makes Bacteria Pump Biofuel
By John Timmer, Ars Technica The majority of plant matter we have available to produce biofuels comes in the form of cellulose, a long polymer of sugars. It’s easiest to convert this material to...
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NASA Wants to Power Robots With Microbes
At the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, space roboticists are investigating the feasibility of building an army of tiny, autonomous robots -- each powered by bacteria -- to explore the solar system.
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Russian Drill Nears 14-Million-Year-Old Antarctic Lake
After 20 years of drilling, a team of Russian researchers is close to breaching the prehistoric Lake Vostok, which has been trapped deep beneath Antarctica for the last 14 million years.
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Russian Drill Penetrates 14-Million-Year-Old Antarctic Lake
After 20 years of drilling, a team of Russian researchers has breached the prehistoric Lake Vostok, which has been trapped deep beneath Antarctica for the last 14 million years.
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Book of Germs: The Quest for a Field Guide to Microbes
Germ lovers rejoice! A proposal to build an electronic field guide to microbes could put everything you need to know about these microscopic bugs at your fingertips. The project would rely on...
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Antique Vineyards Host Treasure Troves of Wine Yeast
A new census of wine yeasts in "grubby" Sicilian vineyards show that many of the microbes can compete with, or even outstrip, widely sold industrial yeasts used to make wines.
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NASA Needs New Plan to Avoid Contaminating Other Worlds
Space could be much more hospitable to life than anyone thought, but probes sent looking for it might transfer an Earth-based extremophile to the new world -- and ruin everything. A recent National...
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The Great Outdoors Is Good for Allergies
People who grow up in rural environments are less likely to develop allergies. It may because such environments harbor more friendly microbes that colonize our bodies and protect us from inflammatory...
View ArticleFuzzy Bosons, Stuffed Microbes and Fossil Ice: Best Science-Themed Holiday Gifts
The holidays are here, and it’s never too late to start thinking about fun stuff to bestow upon family and friends. (That’s actually not true. Order soon!) We’ve gathered our favorite science-themed...
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On the Microbial Frontier, Cheaters Rarely Prosper
Population expansion may be a major driver in the evolution of cooperation, with implications for new antibiotics, cancer treatments and perhaps even human behavior.
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