Rays provide power for an electric generator

Scientists from the RIKEN Quantitative Biology Center in Japan removed the electric organ from a torpedo and chemically stimulated the organ by injecting a solution of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine though a syringe. ...

Human beings – and our offices – are crawling with microbes

Humans are crawling with microorganisms – indeed, each of us has our own unique microbial ecosystem, otherwise known as a "microbiome". Microorganisms are the smallest forms of life, and the human microbiome includes bacteria, ...

Viruses 'piggyback' on host microbes' success

In the microscopic life that thrives around coral reefs, San Diego State University researchers have discovered an interplay between viruses and microbes that defies conventional wisdom. As the density of microbes rises in ...

Collective memory in bacteria

Individual bacterial cells have short memories. But groups of bacteria can develop a collective memory that can increase their tolerance to stress. This has been demonstrated experimentally for the first time in a study by ...

Bacterial brawls mark life in the gut's microbiome

Bacterially speaking, it gets very crowded in the human gut, with trillions of cells jostling for a position to carry out a host of specialized and often crucial tasks. A new Yale study, published the week of March 7 in the ...

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