When termites munch on wood, the small bits are delivered to feed a community of unique microbes living in their guts, and in a complex process involving multiple steps, these microbes turn the hard, fibrous material into ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 24, 2013
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It's not just in toothpaste and mouthwash—fluoride is found in just about everything from rocks and water to the soil and the sea. It is the 13th most abundant element in the Earth's crust, and it's extremely toxic to single-celled ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 19, 2013
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Researchers at the University of Arkansas have discovered and characterized a new organism that will help scientists understand the molecular mechanisms and ancestral genetic toolkit that enabled animals and fungi to evolve ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 18, 2013
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New results have proven that certain microorganisms are capable of producing natural gas under industrial conditions. The method, based on microorganisms known as Archaea, converts climate-damaging CO2 and hydrogen into storable ...
Energy & Green Tech
Sep 18, 2013
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(Phys.org) —Researchers with the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) have presented findings at this year's Goldschmidt conference. They report having found bacteria, fungi and viruses living a mile and a half beneath ...
(Phys.org) —Transposons are DNA elements that can multiply and change their location within an organism's genome. Discovered in the 1940s, for years they were thought to be unimportant and were called "junk DNA." Also ...
Biotechnology
Aug 15, 2013
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(Phys.org) —A high-angle helix helps microorganisms like sperm and bacteria swim through mucus and other viscoelastic fluids, according to a new study by researchers from Brown University and the University of Wisconsin. ...
General Physics
Aug 13, 2013
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More forms of mercury can be converted to deadly methylmercury than previously thought, according to a study published Sunday in Nature Geoscience. The discovery provides scientists with another piece of the mercury puzzle, ...
Environment
Aug 6, 2013
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This is a veritable mechanics of aggression on the nanoscale. Certain bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus, have the ability to deploy tiny darts. This biological weapon kills the host cell by piercing the membrane. ...
Biochemistry
Aug 4, 2013
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With sea ice at its lowest point in 1,500 years, how might ecological communities in the Arctic be affected by its continued and even accelerated melting over the next decades? In a review article in the journal Science, ...
Ecology
Aug 1, 2013
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