Microbes

  1. Environment

    Recycling a climate-warming gas could make ‘greener’ farmed fish

    Instead of warming the climate, methane gas can be collected to help farmers. Along the way, it may also save some fish.

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  2. Microbes

    Scientists Say: Bacteria

    Bacteria get a bad rap for making people sick, but only a tiny portion of these single-celled creatures cause disease.

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  3. Materials Science

    Analyze This: This material for 3-D printing is made by microbes

    Bacteria with tweaked genes pump out proteins that can be used in a 3-D printer. With microbes in the mix, the living ink can make drugs or suck up chemicals.

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  4. Microbes

    Genes point to how some bacteria can gobble up electricity

    A new study shows how some microbes absorb and release electrons — a trait that may point to new fuels or ways to store energy.

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  5. Animals

    Meat-eating bees have something in common with vultures

    Flesh-eating bees have acid-producing gut bacteria, much as vultures do. It lets them safely snack on rotting meat.

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  6. Materials Science

    Bacteria make ‘spider silk’ that’s stronger than steel

    Part spider silk, the material is better than what some spiders make. Researchers think it might make the basis for surgical threads or unusually strong fabrics.

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  7. Animals

    What biologists call a species is becoming more than just a name

    The tree of life — evolution — has been reshaping how scientists name and classify organisms. Some want naming to reflect evolutionary groups even more.

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  8. Animals

    Tiny animals survive 24,000 years in suspended animation

    Tiny bdelloid rotifers awake from a 24,000-year slumber when freed from the Arctic permafrost.

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  9. Environment

    Wildfire smoke seeds the air with potentially dangerous microbes

    Studies now show that most wildfires don’t kill microbes. That’s fueling worries about what risks these smoke hitchhikers might pose to people.

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  10. Microbes

    Explainer: Virus variants and strains

    When viruses become more infectious or better able to survive the body’s immune system, they become a type of variant known as a strain.

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  11. Microbes

    Let’s learn about microbes

    There may be a billion species of microorganisms on Earth — but scientists have only discovered a small fraction of them.

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  12. Animals

    Common parasite may help mussels survive heat waves

    By whitening shells, the organism helps the shellfish stay cool on sunny days, a new study suggests.

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