5,519 results
- Physics
Algae use quantum trick to harvest light
A new study finds that proteins used in photosynthesis take advantage of electrons’ wavelike properties
- Chemistry
Earth’s ‘boring billion’ years blamed on sulfur-loving microbes
A new study suggests these organisms could have kept oxygen levels low and waters toxic, stalling the evolution of complex life.
- Health & Medicine
How resveratrol (in grapes, peanuts and wine) fights fat and disease
Resveratrol, a constituent of grapes and certain other plants, can fight the proliferation of fat cells and improve the uptake of sugar from the blood, a pair of new studies indicate. These observations offer some mechanisms to explain why grape products, including wine, have developed a reputation as heart healthy, obesity-fighting and beneficial for people developing diabetes.
- Health & Medicine
Diversity of human skin bacteria revealed
First large-scale inventory of microbes charts types, locales of bacteria.
- Humans
Schools need to test water, report results
Survey of EPA database turn up widespread problems, which may be only the tip of the iceberg.
- Life
Dissing a loaded label for some unicellular life
Prominent biologist calls ‘prokaryote’ outdated term.
- Chemistry
Engineered bacteria create high-energy biofuel
Scientists alter E. coli microbes to make a high-energy alcohol not produced naturally
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- Life
Aphids support symbionts with borrowed DNA
Aphids borrowed at least two genes from bacterial buddies, and those genes now support another bacterium that lives in the insects.
- Life
Sponge’s secret weapon restores antibiotics’ power
A chemical from an ocean-dwelling sponge can reprogram antibiotic resistant bacteria to make them vulnerable to medicines again, new evidence suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Tuberculosis bacterium subverts basic cell functions
The tuberculosis microbe makes compounds that alter basic systems inside key immune cells, facilitating the bacterium’s survival in the body, new research shows.
- Earth
Gulf gusher is far and away the biggest U.S. spill
As cleanup efforts progress, scientists try to track missing oil roaming below the surface.
