Microbes

  1. Animals

    Algal toxin impairs sea lion memory

    California sea lions that have brain damage linked to domoic acid poisoning have impaired spatial memory, a new study finds.

    By Sarah Zielinski
  2. Life

    Year in review: Microbe discoveries spur rethink of treetop of life

    Microbes discovered in Arctic mud this year could be the closest relatives yet found to the single-celled ancestor that made life so complicated.

    By Susan Milius
  3. Microbes

    Gut microbes signal when dinner is done

    Helpful E. coli bacteria that live in the guts of animals produce proteins that can decrease an animal’s appetite only 20 minutes after receiving nutrients

    By Chris Samoray
  4. Animals

    Getting creative to cut methane from cows

    Changing feed, giving vaccines and selective breeding may enable scientists to help beef and dairy cattle shake their title as one of society's worst methane producers.

    By Laura Beil
  5. Climate

    Kangaroo farts may not be so eco-friendly after all

    Kangaroos fart methane, but not much thanks to the metabolism of gut microbes

    By Chris Samoray
  6. Animals

    Diagram captures microbes’ influence across animal kingdom

    A network diagram of animal species shows that many microbes living in humans also make themselves at home in dogs, pigs and cattle.

    By Meghan Rosen
  7. Paleontology

    Vampire microbes sucked some ancient life dry

    Hole-ridden fossils suggest that vampirelike microbes were among the first predators that targeted eukaryotes.

    By Thomas Sumner
  8. Animals

    Don’t judge a whale’s gut microbiome by diet alone

    Evolutionary history and diet may both determine the microbes that live in a baleen whale's stomach, researchers report.

    By Helen Thompson
  9. Animals

    Invading Argentine ants carry virus that attacks bees

    The first survey of viruses in the globally invasive Argentine ant brings both potentially bad and good news.

    By Susan Milius
  10. Animals

    Invading Argentine ant hordes carry a virus that attacks bees

    Invasive Argentine ants may be reservoirs for a virus menacing honeybees — and for previously unknown virus.

    By Susan Milius
  11. Genetics

    DNA architecture, novel forensics offer new clues

    Going from theory to practice is always rife with problems, be it shifting from the sequence of DNA’s letters to observing its dynamic machinations or from an identity marker in the lab to a piece of courtroom evidence.

    By Eva Emerson
  12. Life

    Extinction in lab bottle was a fluke, experiment finds

    Extinction in a bottle was a random catastrophe, not survival of the fittest.

    By Tina Hesman Saey