Microbes
Let’s learn about viruses
Viruses cause a huge range of illnesses, but vaccines can help protect you against these infections.
MS-LS1-1
Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells, either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells.
More Stories in MS-LS1-1
- Life
Scientists Say: Protist
Unified by a few key traits, these diverse organisms come in all shapes and sizes.
- Tech
Synthetic biology aims to tackle disease and give cells superpowers
DNA machines and protein-mimicking nanotech could replace broken machinery in cells or even lead to made-from-scratch synthetic life.
- Health & Medicine
Stem cells can help build lab-grown organs that mimic real life
Making such organoids with 3-D printing and other tech can help researchers learn more about many troubling and potentially deadly disorders.
- Animals
These beetles ‘drink’ water using their butts
Red flour beetles can survive in very dry environments. New research shows how the beetles can suck water from the air using their rear ends.
- Environment
Microplastic pollution aids viruses and prolongs their infectivity
The tiny plastic bits give these germs safe havens. That protection seems to increase as the plastic ages and breaks into ever smaller pieces.
- Environment
Bacterial ‘living wires’ could help protect the seas and climate
Long, thin bacteria that conduct electricity may be able to help clean up oil spills and reduce emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
- Animals
Sea creatures’ fishy scent protects them from deep-sea high pressures
TMAO’s water-wrangling ability protects a critter’s critical proteins — including muscle — from crushing under deep ocean pressures.
- Genetics
Examining Neandertal and Denisovan DNA wins a 2022 Nobel Prize
Svante Pääbo figured out how to examine the genetic material from these hominid ‘cousins’ of modern humans.
- Animals
Living mysteries: This critter has 38 times more DNA than you do
The genomes of salamanders are bloated with genetic “parasites.” That extra DNA slows down their lives and strands them in perpetual childhood.
