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.
- Life
Coral reefs host millions of bacteria, revealing Earth’s hidden biodiversity
A new estimate of microbial life living in Pacific reefs is similar to global counts, suggesting many more microbes call Earth home than thought.
- Plants
A hunt for fungi might bring this orchid back from the brink
Identifying the fungi that feeds the Cooper’s black orchid in the lab may allow researchers to bank seeds and possibly regrow the species in the wild.
- Plants
Soil microbes that survived tough climates can help young trees do the same
Trees grown in soil with microbes that have survived drought and high or low temperatures have a better shot at survival when facing the same conditions.
