Collaborate Disseminate
Most of us have at some point in our busy lives wished there were more hours in the day. That wish actually came true billions of years ago as the Earth’s rotation slowed down – and now a new study hypothesizes that this is why we have so much oxygen n… Continue reading How the Moon, microbes and longer days may have given us more oxygen
Scientists have collected viruses from almost-15,000-year-old ice samples, taken from glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau. Dozens of species were found to be unknown to science, which could provide an intriguing look back at the history of viral evolution…. Continue reading Dozens of new viruses discovered in 15,000-year-old glacier ice
Paramecium and certain other microbes move through liquid by whipping back and forth hairlike appendages known as cilia. Scientists have now developed a new type of synthetic cilia, which could find use in micro-robots and more.Continue ReadingCategory… Continue reading Synthetic cilia allow tiny soft-bodied robot to pump and scuttle
Researchers at Indiana University have linked a protein secreted by the stomach to obesity. In tests in mice, the team switched off the protein and found that it reduced the animals’ body fat levels, even when fed a high-fat diet.Continue ReadingCatego… Continue reading Switching off a stomach protein seems to help regulate obesity in mice
Scientists have discovered the fossil of what may be the earliest multicellular animal ever found. Dating back a billion years, the microscopic fossil contains two distinct cell types, potentially making it an ancestor to advanced animals.Continue Read… Continue reading Billion-year old fossil may be first multicellular animal
One of the main goals of NASA’s Perseverance rover is to scour the surface of Mars for signs of ancient microbial life. But a new study of the geochemistry of the Red Planet suggests that life could still be thriving below its surface today.Continue Re… Continue reading Microbes may inhabit subsurface modern Mars, says geochemical study
Antibiotics are one of the most important medical breakthroughs of the last century, but decades of overuse means bacteria are quickly developing resistance to them. Now, a team of scientists has found that a drug already approved by the FDA can act as… Continue reading “Anti-antibiotic” aims to slow rise of drug-resistant bacteria
Agricultural fertilizers typically contain phosphorous, as it’s essential to growing plants. Unfortunately, though, it can become “locked” in the soil, and thus not available to crops. That said, it turns out that the addition of a microbe could unlock… Continue reading Tree microbes could help crops draw phosphorous from fertilized soil
In what sounds like the opening scenes of a sci-fi disaster movie, scientists have managed to revive microorganisms that have laid dormant for over 100 million years. These microbes were discovered deep beneath the seafloor, where they’ve been slumberi… Continue reading Scientists revive 100-million-year old microbes from deep underground
A newly discovered microbe identified in wild mosquito populations in Kenya has been found to protect the insects from malaria infection. It’s hypothesized the microbe could be recruited for malaria control strategies to limit transmission of the disea… Continue reading Newly discovered parasitic fungus blocks malaria infecting mosquitoes