Our bodies are home to millions of fungi that, for the most part, are completely harmless. However, they can sometimes change from peaceful residents into dangerous invaders. One such is Candida parapsilosis, which normally ...
In a new study, published in Cell, researchers describe a newfound mechanism for creating proteins in a giant DNA virus, comparable to a mechanism in eukaryotic cells. The finding challenges the dogma that viruses lack protein ...
When scientists want to study aging and how to slow it down, they often turn to microscopic worms or lab mice among other models. The former are too different from humans, while the latter are expensive and take too long ...
To stay in the air when hovering over a flower, bumble bees continually flap their wings rapidly, a metabolic process that generates a massive amount of internal heat. Their flight muscles work so intensely that they can ...
Creatures that can change from one form to another are a staple of science fiction: Think werewolves and Transformers. Nature, too, has its shapeshifters, such as dimorphic fungi. While scientists have known for some time ...
There aren't any native lion or tiger populations living in Japan today, but this was not always the case. Fossil evidence indicates that at least one species of large cat roamed the archipelago during the Late Pleistocene—a ...
One of the greatest mysteries of our planet is how a soup of lifeless chemicals transformed into the first living cell. There are several competing theories about where this happened, from frozen polar ice to superheated ...
Snakes may well be one of nature's greatest predators, capable of eating whole deer or even crocodiles, but just as impressive is that they can go months, or even a whole year, without a single meal. And now an international ...
Scientists have uncovered a 400-million-year-old genetic secret that gave spiders the ability to produce silk and weave their webs. Spiders didn't begin their journey on Earth in the same way as they are known today. Arthropods ...
Starfish, also known as sea stars, are equipped with an almost alien-like anatomy. Despite lacking a brain, blood, and central nervous system, these odd creatures still have locomotive abilities. The structure of their many ...
