Microbes

Animals

Polluting microplastics harm both animals and ecosystems

Researchers are beginning to uncover the real-world impacts of polluting microplastic bits on animals and the ecosystems they inhabit.

Health & Medicine

Trio wins 2020 Nobel for discovery of hepatitis C

It took 50 years from discovery of hepatitis C to its cure. For their pivotal work in this area, three men will take home a 2020 Nobel Prize.

Life

If bacteria stick together, they can survive for years in space

Tiny clumps of bacteria can survive at least three years in outer space. This raises the prospect of interplanetary travel by microbial life.

Chemistry

Stinky success: Scientists identify the chemistry of B.O.

They turned up the enzyme in bacteria behind that underarm stench. Understanding how it works could pave the way to new types of deodorant.

Microbes

Some deep-seafloor microbes still alive after 100 million years!

Some starving microbes nap while awaiting their next meal. For some living miles below the ocean surface, that nap may exceed 100 million years.

Health & Medicine

Explainer: What are Antibodies?

Antibodies are one of the major players in the immune system’s attack against germs. Learn what they are, what they do and how they keep us healthy.

Genetics

New COVID-19 vaccines show promise in people

Early data from human trials show that several candidate COVID-19 vaccines produce virus-inactivating antibodies and immune cells that fight the virus.

Microbes

Scientists Say: Amoeba

Amoebas are single-celled microbes that move and eat with shape-shifting bulges that extend from their cells. Some are blobs. Others build a shell.

Environment

This ‘living’ concrete slurps up a greenhouse gas

Microbes help harden a mix of sand and gelatin into a living concrete that could interact with people and the environment in great new ways.

Microbes

Let’s learn about microbial communities

Communities of bacteria and other single-celled critters are all around us, on us — even inside us.

Ecosystems

Check out the communities of bacteria living on your tongue

Bacteria scraped off the tongue offer a window into how the microbes structure their communities.

Environment

Greener than burial? Turning human bodies into worm food

Composting human bodies yielded good results — and good soil — in one small study. It could become an alternative to burial or cremation in one state.