Genetics
Ancient DNA tests the notion that allergies are due to our dirtier past
An analysis of ancient DNA and modern disease risk suggests some immune genes may reduce allergy risk rather than increase it.
Microbes
More Stories in Microbes
- Microbes
How warming is shifting microbial worlds
Climate change is affecting microbes, and that has implications for all life on Earth.
- Plants
Chickpeas can grow in moon dirt and make seeds
Chickpeas produced seeds in simulated lunar soil, offering clues for future space farming.
- Health & Medicine
A lab on wheels is tracking HIV spread in war-torn Ukraine
During a test drive, the mobile lab van uncovered a drug-resistant HIV strain that sprung up after the ongoing war with Russia started.
- Health & Medicine
Gum disease bacteria can promote cancer growth in mice
In mice, the oral bacteria F. nucleatum can travel to mammary tissue via the bloodstream, where it can damage healthy cells.
- Climate
Hidden tree bark microbes munch on important climate gases
Trees are known for absorbing CO2. But microbes in their bark also absorb other climate-active gases, methane, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide.
- Health & Medicine
He made beer that’s also a vaccine. Now controversy is brewing
An NIH scientist’s maverick approach reveals legal, ethical, moral, scientific and social challenges to developing potentially life-saving vaccines.
- Microbes
This giant microbe organizes its DNA in a surprising way
3-D microscopy shows that the giant bacterium Thiovulum imperiosus squeezes its DNA into peripheral pouches, not a central mass like typical bacteria.
- Life
How these strange cells may explain the origin of complex life
The tiny pantheon known as the Asgard archaea bear traits that hint at how plants, animals and fungi emerged on Earth.
- Animals
Bats might be the next bird flu wild card
Finding that vampire bats along Peru’s coast carried H5N1 antibodies raises concerns that multiple bat species could become reservoirs for the virus.
