Introducing the single-cell maze runner

In a paper appearing in Scientific Reports today, the motion of micro-organisms as they swim through various types of fluid channels show "quite strange and new" responses for single cell organisms, including the performance ...

Viruses can have immune systems, new research shows

A study published today in the journal Nature reports that a viral predator of the cholera bacteria has stolen the functional immune system of bacteria and is using it against its bacterial host. The study provides the first ...

Amoeba feast on backpacks

(Phys.org)—The amoeba Acanthamoeba cunningly traps motile bacteria, collecting them in a rucksack before devouring the whole backpack. This behaviour of the single-cell organisms is unique.

Quality-control mechanism found in bacteria

(Phys.org) -- Like quality-control managers in factories, bacteria possess built-in machinery that track the shape and quality of proteins trying to pass through their cytoplasmic membranes, Cornell biomolecular engineers ...

Old life capable of revealing new tricks after all

(PhysOrg.com) -- Archaea are among the oldest known life-forms, but they are not well understood. It was only in the 1970s that these single-celled microorganisms were designated as a domain of life distinct from bacteria ...