Microbes

  1. 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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  2. 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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  3. 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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  4. 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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  5. 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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  6. 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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  7. Microbes

    Several plant-like algae can morph into animal-like predators

    Single-celled green algae swim through water as free cells. Most use only photosynthesis for their energy. But not all of them, a new study shows.

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  8. Microbes

    Some microbial hitchhikers may weaken body’s attack on COVID-19

    New research identifies an altered mix of microbes in the body — ones commonly seen in people with poor diets — that may worsen coronavirus disease.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Some young adults will volunteer to get COVID-19 for science

    Researchers will soon give some healthy people the new coronavirus. Their young volunteers have agreed to get sick to speed coronavirus research.

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  10. Agriculture

    Soil (and its inhabitants) by the numbers

    Teeming with life, soils have more going on than most of us realize.

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  11. Agriculture

    Healthy soils are life-giving black gold

    Scientists explain why everyone needs to value the soils beneath our feet — and why we should not view them as dirt.

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  12. Animals

    Choked by bacteria, some starfish are turning to goo

    For years, researchers thought gooey, dying starfish were infected. Instead, these sea stars are suffocating. And bacteria may be behind it all.

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