Microbiology

How can you be both a necrophiliac and chaste? Welcome to the fascinating world of bacterial reproduction. Bacteria don't have sex the way humans think of sex - they can mix their genetic material in…

In old movies, humans feared invaders from other planets, but they had better watch out for us. In "War of the Worlds" we took out the Martians using nothing but microorganisms, so if imagine if…

It's broadly understood that the world's oceans play a crucial role in the global-scale cycling and exchange of carbon between Earth's ecosystems and atmosphere. Now scientists at Scripps Institution…

There's a hidden battle happening planet-wide at the microbe level.  Researchers have discovered that Arabidopsis thaliana, a small flowering plant widely used as a model organism in plant…

For the first time, researchers have studied the Black Death bacterium's entire family tree to fully understand how some of the family members evolve to become harmful. Contrary to popular belief,…

The ability to program living holds tremendous potential for energy, agriculture, water remediation and medicine, and synthetic biology is on the case. Researchers have already designed a 'tool box'…

The bacterium Bacillus subtilis is quite adaptable, it moves about in liquids and on agar surfaces by means of flagella and alternatively, it can just stick to an underlying substrate.  The…

Food-poisoning outbreaks linked to Escherichia coli are often associated with tainted meat products but up to 30% of these are caused by people eating contaminated vegetables, and that has risen with…

Humans depend on microbes for survival. So do most animals and such symbioses can persist for millions of years. Scientists have discovered that certain wasps tightly control mother-to-offspring…

It's no secret that bacterial parasites can change creatures. The parasitic lancet liver fluke infects the brain of ants, compelling them to climb to the tip of a blade of grass and into the mouth of…