https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. All living things have a fleet of tiny copy machines that turn instructions from DNA into RNA molecules responsible for helping build proteins that keep organisms alive. One of those nanoscale machines, called eukaryotic RNA polymerase II, performs a crucial early step required by nearly every biological process. It makes messages, copying and carrying instructions from the cell nucleus to make proteins. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-messy-life-cellular-caught-action.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 20 Aug 2026 18:00:03 EDT news706450202 A team of researchers reports that they may have found rock containing some of the earliest forms of microbial life on Earth. Their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describes the biosignatures found in this 3.5-billion-year-old, carbon-rich, layered rock, called chert. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-layered-india-potential-microbial-life.html Earth Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:30:02 EDT news706270423 A research team led by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has developed a new material that combines inorganic material with biological components to produce hydrogen peroxide more efficiently. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-layered-nano-biohybrid-sunlight-air.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 13 Aug 2026 19:20:02 EDT news705851881 Long before humans discovered biodegradable plastics, microorganisms had already invented their own. Many bacteria and archaea produce natural bioplastics called polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), storing them inside their cells as reserves of carbon and energy. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-nature-bioplastic-fed-animals-hundreds.html Evolution Thu, 13 Aug 2026 05:00:01 EDT news705655861 A study led by Professor Jimmy Jiujiu Jiao from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Professor Meng Li from Shenzhen University has identified microbial fermentation as the likely main pathway for ammonium production in sediments beneath the Pearl River Delta, helping to explain the region's exceptionally high natural groundwater ammonium levels. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-fermentation-emerges-key-pathway-ammonium.html Earth Sciences Mon, 10 Aug 2026 17:20:01 EDT news705593281 All living organisms need vitamin B12 to form red blood cells and DNA, as well as to build and support brain and nerve cells. But it's hard to come by: Humans don't make it. Animals don't make it. Plants don't make it. In fact, this essential nutrient is made exclusively by certain bacteria and archaea. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-phages-essential-vitamin-b12-gut.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 07 Aug 2026 13:40:06 EDT news705320644 How and where did the first forms of life arise? These are the main questions driving research at the Institute of Molecular Evolution at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU). In a new publication in Science Advances, an international team led by Düsseldorf biologists uncovers pioneering insights into the network of chemical reactions that the very first cells used to make the building blocks of life and the energy sources they used to drive those reactions. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-life-free-cells-emerged-bacteria.html Evolution Wed, 05 Aug 2026 14:00:13 EDT news705143582 A research group led by Tetsuhiro Hatakeyama from the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at the Institute of Science Tokyo has revealed how a seemingly self-destructive survival strategy could persist in yeast for hundreds of millions of years. By combining population dynamics theory with comparative experimental observations, the team found that alternating periods of nutrient-rich conditions and starvation can stabilize this unusual behavior over evolutionary timescales. The findings were published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-environments-ancient-microbial-survival-strategy.html Evolution Mon, 27 Jul 2026 19:20:02 EDT news704384761 How do microorganisms orient themselves to find the optimal habitat? Scientists have thoroughly investigated so-called magnetotactic bacteria, which use the Earth's magnetic field as a biological compass. Some eukaryotic single-celled organisms—that is, more complex organisms like ciliates, which, unlike bacteria, have a cell nucleus—also possess this capability. But how they acquire it has largely remained a puzzle. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-unusual-bestows-magnetic-celled.html Evolution Mon, 20 Jul 2026 19:00:01 EDT news703784221 New research has uncovered the complex biological history preserved within DNA traces found on the Shroud of Turin, offering fresh insights into one of the world's most studied and debated historical artifacts. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-shroud-turin-dna-biological-history.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 20 Jul 2026 13:00:06 EDT news703770901 A research team at Marburg University has investigated one of the largest enzyme complexes found in nature to date and deciphered its remarkable structure. Under the supervision of Dr. Jan Schuller, Ph.D. student Sophia Paul from the Center for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO) was able to characterize the so-called heterodisulfide reductase super-assembly in detail. The results of the study are now published in the journal Nature. They show how a molecular "giant" comprising hundreds of building blocks enables energy production in microorganisms. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-decoding-nature-largest-enzymes-reveals.html Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 17:40:09 EDT news702737667 Scientists discovered a protein secreted by a deep-sea extremophile—an organism adapted to extreme environmental conditions—that self-assembles into a biofilm and is highly stable, boosting its potential for biomedical applications. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-deep-sea-extremophile-yields-protein.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 29 Jun 2026 17:50:01 EDT news701968261 Genes are not passed on exclusively from parents to their offspring. Some are mobile and can also jump to other species, as researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen have now shown. The direct observation of a jumping gene provides the first evidence that such genes can transfer from one species to another—from predator to prey. The study is published in the journal Scientific Reports. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-gene-caught-species.html Evolution Sat, 20 Jun 2026 16:00:01 EDT news701017584 New antibiotic candidates for drug-resistant bacteria may reside inside prions, misfolded proteins in the brain best known for rare and fatal degenerative brain diseases. Prion and prion-like proteins may hide short peptides, called "prionins," that can kill bacteria, suggesting proteins best known for their role in neurodegeneration may contain molecular features linked to immune defense, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-reveals-unexpected-source-antibiotic.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 19 Jun 2026 15:00:04 EDT news701091662 Researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil have discovered 45 new toxins produced by Salmonella bacteria, some of which are associated with foodborne infections. The study was conducted at the Center for Research in Bacterial and Bacteriophage Biology (B3 RIDC) and was published in the journal PLOS Biology. It shows that these substances primarily act in competition among microorganisms for space and resources. The study also suggests that these substances may inspire the development of new antibiotics, in-depth studies in humans and biotechnological applications in the future. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-salmonella-genomes-reveal-previously-unknown.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 11 Jun 2026 15:40:06 EDT news700401841 Living in the Dead Sea would be a very unpleasant experience for most creatures. With salt concentration above 30% and temperatures ranging from 10–50°C, it takes unique environmental adaptations to survive in such harsh conditions. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-dead-sea-archaea-sport-tail.html Evolution Wed, 03 Jun 2026 10:40:01 EDT news699696781 How did life make the leap from single cells to coordinated, multicellular organisms? And how do genetically identical cells still perform a version of that feat every time an embryo begins to take shape? https://phys.org/news/2026-06-story-multicellular-life-physics-genes.html Evolution Tue, 02 Jun 2026 13:20:10 EDT news699616835 Advances in DNA sequencing have expanded our view of the microbial world, but the inability to cultivate most microbes has been a major constraint. Now, a systematic, predictive framework that combines existing genomic and computational modeling approaches to accelerate the discovery and cultivation of novel prokaryotic taxa has been proposed by KAUST researchers, in collaboration with an international team of scientists. The work is published in The ISME Journal. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-metagenomics-ai-uncultivated-bacteria-archaea.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 11 May 2026 18:20:07 EDT news697735861 In a new paper, an international team led by scientists from Charles University, Czechia, has brought evidence linking widespread release of methane (CH₄)—a strong greenhouse gas—from the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) to a warmer period 9–4 thousand years ago. CH₄ has been detected at retreating glacier margins worldwide, raising concerns about potential climate feedbacks associated with their widespread retreat, but this is the first time that a study has systematically investigated the whole margin of an entire ice sheet. The study is published in the journal Nature Geoscience. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-subglacial-ch-export-greenland-ice.html Earth Sciences Tue, 05 May 2026 18:50:01 EDT news697217762 A study conducted in the Brazilian state of Amazonas has demonstrated that small amounts of Amazonian dark earth (ADE)—an anthropogenic soil created by ancient Amazonian populations—can increase the height and diameter of the pink trumpet tree (Handroanthus avellanedae) by up to 55% and 88%, respectively. This tree also occurs in the Atlantic Forest. The research is published in the journal BMC Ecology and Evolution. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-soil-fertilization-amazonian-dark-earth.html Plants & Animals Tue, 28 Apr 2026 16:40:06 EDT news696612241 Storing genetic material as DNA or RNA is all well and good for life on Earth, but it would be entirely pointless if we couldn't do anything with it. To use our genetic blueprints, all organisms need to translate the message from their nucleic acid forms into protein, which then become the building blocks that make up each organism. Because this is such a critical part of life, ribosomes—the machinery responsible for the translation of RNA into protein—are fairly conserved across all living things. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-rare-ribosome-tweak-coli-reveals.html Biochemistry Mon, 27 Apr 2026 11:20:02 EDT news696503700 Researchers have identified more than 600,000 microbial proteins capable of breaking down natural and synthetic plastics, revealing a far broader biodegradation potential across microbes than previously known. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-earth-microbes-universal-plastic-arsenal.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 15 Apr 2026 13:00:07 EDT news695470383 Research by microbiologists Reinier Egas and Cornelia Welte of Radboud University shows that many methane-consuming microorganisms actually prefer carbon monoxide over methane. When carbon monoxide is present, they consume far less methane. This suggests that in carbon monoxide–rich environments, more methane may be released from the soil into the atmosphere. The paper is published in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-picky-methane-consuming-microorganisms-carbon.html Ecology Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:00:05 EDT news695388781 Stromatolites—and their close relatives, microbial mats—could be mistaken for what seems like a bunch of old dark rocks. But instead, they are dense, layered communities of microbes. Long before complex life such as animals or plants existed, stromatolites breathed the first molecules of oxygen into Earth's atmosphere. Now, in a study published in Current Biology, researchers say they may also hold insights into how complex life began. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-asgard-earth-tiny-tubes-reveal.html Evolution Thu, 09 Apr 2026 11:00:06 EDT news694943992 Sharing habitat with livestock is changing elephants' gut bacteria in ways that could be harmful to their health, according to new research conducted by San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance in collaboration with Save the Elephants. The study, appearing in Royal Society Open Science, tracked known individual elephants in the Samburu and Buffalo Springs National Reserves in Northern Kenya and found that when livestock numbers increased in the reserves, the elephants' gut microbiomes shifted significantly. Microbes commonly found in livestock became more abundant in elephant guts, while beneficial microbes decreased. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-livestock-rewriting-elephants-gut-microbiomes.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Apr 2026 17:30:03 EDT news694885501 In 2024, NASA's Perseverance rover found surprising levels of Nickel in the Martian bedrock of an ancient river channel, called Neretva Vallis, which flowed into the Jezero crater. A new study, published in Nature Communications, has taken a closer look at the data collected from the region and researchers are seeing what could be remnants of ancient Martian life. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-high-nickel-martian-bedrock-potential.html Astrobiology Wed, 01 Apr 2026 15:20:09 EDT news694274606 In a new study of viral abundance over a short time frame in the Sargasso Sea, researchers found that almost all viruses with cyclical changes in abundance were most active at night—somewhat surprising when the team expected microbial behavior to pick up pace when light was available for photosynthesis. It turns out the viruses most busy at night were not infecting bacteria that perform photosynthesis, which are among the types of bacteria known to be infected by viruses. Instead, these overnight viral hosts were microbes that focus on consumption of other organic matter because they can't produce their own food. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-glimpse-viral-dark-sargasso-sea.html Ecology Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:00:07 EDT news694179001 Deep below the surface in coastal sediments, microorganisms use conductive particles as tiny natural "wires" to exchange electrons. This enables them to convert organic carbon into methane in a way not previously documented. The mechanism is described in a new study in Nature Communications led by researchers from the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) in collaboration with Aarhus University. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-overlooked-microbial-network-methane-production.html Ecology Tue, 24 Mar 2026 18:20:03 EDT news693590101 Deep-sea waters are warming due to heat waves and climate change, and it could spell trouble for the oceans' delicate chemical and biological balance. However, a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences demonstrates that the microbe Nitrosopumilus maritimus may already be adapting well to warmer, nutrient-poor waters. Researchers predict that these surprisingly adaptable iron-dependent ammonia-oxidizing archaea will play an important role in reshaping ocean-nutrient distribution in a changing climate. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-deep-ocean-microbes-tackle-climate.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 09 Mar 2026 16:50:01 EDT news692291641 Our single-celled ancestor lived in a world without plants, animals or oxygen-rich oceans. Yet, this seemingly simple microorganism took the first steps toward complex life. From this ancestor emerged all multicellular (complex) life as we know it today: from yeast to blue whales, collectively known as eukaryotes. These organisms are built from cells containing specialized structures, such as a nucleus and other specialized structures, each performing distinct functions. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-microbial-ancestor-complex-life-sophisticated.html Evolution Thu, 05 Mar 2026 16:40:03 EST news691946033