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. A process known as the biological carbon pump (BCP) moves organic carbon from near the ocean's surface to the ocean floor. That carbon often stays there for hundreds or thousands of years, making the BCP a primary source of carbon sequestration in the oceans. Scientists have thought that relatively large phytoplankton are more efficient at exporting carbon to the deep ocean than tiny cyanobacteria, but new research by Jingjing Zhang and colleagues published in AGU Advances now calls that belief into question. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-tiny-cyanobacteria-secret-heroes-ocean.html Ecology Sat, 12 Sep 2026 09:30:01 EDT news708267268 There are millions of species of bacteria and archaea on Earth, remarkably little is known about most of them. Now, researchers have mined the genomes of thousands of microorganisms preserved at the RIKEN BioResource Research Center (BRC) to find organisms that may be capable of capturing CO2. BRC, located in Tsukuba—one of Japan's largest centers of scientific research—is a unique, world-class research facility. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-microbial-dark-yields-potential-carbon.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 03 Sep 2026 11:40:09 EDT news707649132 Communication between cells in plants, animals and humans takes place via specialized connecting structures. An international team led by biologists from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) and involving the University of Tübingen has now discovered that the regulation of very similar structures was already present in multicellular bacteria, implying that it must have originated much earlier in the course of evolution. In their paper published in The EMBO Journal, the researchers describe how the exchange of calcium plays a central role in bacteria, just as it does in humans. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ancient-bacteria-intercellular-communication-humans.html Evolution Mon, 31 Aug 2026 19:00:05 EDT news707406962 Salty water flowing through Antarctica's Blood Falls contains a distinct community of marine-specific microorganisms, providing evidence that the brine system beneath the glacier has a marine origin, according to a paper published in Nature Geoscience. The findings offer new insights into how microbial communities can persist through major environmental transitions. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-marine-microbes-ancient-seawater-source.html Earth Sciences Mon, 03 Aug 2026 17:00:05 EDT news704986322 Researchers from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) have—in collaboration with colleagues from Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) in Munich—analyzed the complex biochemical processes that bacteria use to insert proteins into their cell membranes. They explain that—contrary to prior assumptions—there are more similarities between the processes in bacteria and higher cells than previously thought. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-proteins-inserted-cell-membranes.html Cell & Microbiology Sat, 04 Jul 2026 19:30:01 EDT news701955169 Research has revealed how bacteria rely on circadian clocks to control the spread of their multicellular colonies. The findings provide important clues as to how we might improve soil health and plant growth. They may also help explain how some bacteria spread hospital-acquired infections. Researchers at the John Innes Center, University of Munich and Leiden University made the discovery while studying the widespread soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-bacteria-circadian-clocks-colonize-world.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 26 Jun 2026 09:00:09 EDT news701682753 Stored in an open-air warehouse in tropical Darwin, Australia, are dozens of trays containing cylindrical cores of rock. They are from drill holes bored hundreds of meters below the surface by mineral exploration companies decades ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-tiny-fossils-billionyearold-mud-yield.html Evolution Sat, 23 May 2026 17:00:02 EDT news698582969 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 Oceanographers from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa discovered that microbial communities—from the sunlit surface to extreme depths—in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre exhibit robust seasonal cycles. The study provides new insight into how high levels of biodiversity are maintained in the open ocean. The research is published in The ISME Journal. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-tis-season-resources-sustains-ocean.html Ecology Mon, 20 Apr 2026 11:40:01 EDT news695897222 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 Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovered thousands of new proteins that protect bacteria from virus attacks using an AI system called DefensePredictor. What would usually take months of lab work can now be narrowed down to promising candidates in minutes. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ai-uncovers-hidden-immune-defenses.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:40:02 EDT news694862556 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 A large-scale population metagenomic study has shed new light on the spatial heterogeneity of viral communities across the gastrointestinal tracts of ruminants, which are closely linked to human history. The team, led by Prof. Tan Zhiliang from the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, demonstrates that the gastrointestinal tract region, rather than ruminant species, is the primary factor that distinguishes viral communities. Their findings were published in the Journal of Advanced Research on January 6. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-gut-physiology-host-species-dictates.html Ecology Fri, 06 Feb 2026 08:32:46 EST news689589136 More than 3.5 billion years ago, the Earth was not the hospitable world we know today. The atmosphere lacked oxygen, the seas were acidic and rich in iron, and volcanic activity roared across a barren landscape. Yet, in this alien world, something extraordinary happened—life emerged. The earliest life forms left behind no bones or shells, but they did leave other clues about their biology and impact on early Earth environments. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-microbial-fossils-illuminate-life.html Evolution Fri, 23 Jan 2026 10:55:07 EST news688388058 Marine fouling triggers ongoing economic losses for the global shipping industry through detrimental effects on structures and vessels—but tests by Flinders University researchers on a new type of anti-foul coating reveal a solution that is not detrimental to the environment. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-eco-friendly-solution-marine-fouling.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 15 Dec 2025 11:35:25 EST news685020902 Researchers at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institutet have captured the first detailed molecular snapshots of human polynucleotide phosphorylase (hPNPase) in action, revealing how this essential mitochondrial enzyme degrades RNA through an elegant base-flipping mechanism. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-mitochondrial-enzyme-atomic-reveals-rna.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 10 Dec 2025 16:32:19 EST news684606715 A research team led by Prof. Sun Chaomin from the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS) has unveiled the crucial role of viruses in deep-sea carbon cycling and microbial community structure. Their findings are published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-viruses-carbon-deep-sea-ecosystems.html Ecology Tue, 09 Dec 2025 14:26:37 EST news684512761 Complex life began to develop earlier, and over a longer span of time, than previously believed, a new study has revealed. The research sheds new light on the conditions needed for early organisms to evolve and challenges several long-standing scientific theories in this area. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-complex-life-billion-years-earlier.html Evolution Wed, 03 Dec 2025 11:00:03 EST news683887561 In a new study, scientists have shown that chemical receptors that plants use to recognize nitrogen-fixing bacteria have developed the same function independently on at least three separate occasions through a process called convergent evolution. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-receptors-nitrogen-bacteria-evolved-independently.html Plants & Animals Tue, 30 Sep 2025 16:01:08 EDT news678466861 By making the world's microbial DNA easier to explore, a new sequence alignment tool, LexicMap, lets scientists search for a DNA sequence against millions of bacterial and archaeal genomes in minutes, helping researchers track outbreaks, study antibiotic resistance, and understand microbial diversity. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-sequence-alignment-algorithm-enables-rapid.html Biotechnology Tue, 30 Sep 2025 11:59:03 EDT news678452341 CRISPR-Cas systems are adaptive immune systems found in prokaryotes that defend against invading nucleic acids through CRISPR RNA-guided cleavage. Type V CRISPR-Cas (Cas12) systems, in particular, serve as one of today's most powerful tools for genome editing, especially in basic research, medicine, and agriculture. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-scientists-reveal-functional-rna-mechanism.html Biotechnology Mon, 29 Sep 2025 11:00:07 EDT news678110042 Viruses in the cold waters of the Arctic are strongly seasonal and are also detected in the Antarctic. This surprising discovery comes from a multi-year time-series study led by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel. The results offer new insights into the fragile balance of polar ecosystems—with implications for the role of viruses as indicators of change in the ocean, about which baseline knowledge is still lacking. The study is published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-seasonally-shifting-virus-communities-arctic.html Ecology Thu, 31 Jul 2025 09:33:04 EDT news673173181 A groundbreaking study in the journal Science, has unveiled how deep ocean currents—known as global overturning circulation—play a pivotal role in shaping the diversity and function of microbial life across the South Pacific Ocean. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-deep-ocean-currents-microbial-communities.html Ecology Mon, 14 Jul 2025 14:19:36 EDT news671721570 University of Cincinnati Cancer Center researchers looked billions of years into the past to learn more about the potential future of precision medicine. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-evolutionary-essential-prps-enzyme-complex.html Evolution Tue, 08 Jul 2025 05:00:04 EDT news671122382 By using a genetic technique developed at UT Southwestern Medical Center that forces cells to rid themselves of mitochondria, researchers are gaining new insights into the function of these critical organelles. Their findings, published in Cell, add to fundamental knowledge about the role of mitochondria in cells and evolution and could eventually lead to new treatments for patients with mitochondrial diseases such as Leigh syndrome and Kearns-Sayre syndrome, which can affect numerous organ systems. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-method-mysterious-organelles-stem-cells.html Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 04 Jul 2025 09:47:55 EDT news670841263 It could be the plot of a summer sci-fi blockbuster: A creature feeds on its prey and inherits its "superpower." Only this is real. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-sea-slugs-consume-algae-incorporate.html Ecology Thu, 26 Jun 2025 09:20:03 EDT news670148250 When the Earth froze over, where did life shelter? MIT scientists say one refuge may have been pools of melted ice that dotted the planet's icy surface. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-earth-iced-early-life-meltwater.html Evolution Thu, 19 Jun 2025 05:00:07 EDT news669460487 The American Academy of Microbiology, the honorific leadership group and scientific think tank of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), announced today the release of its landmark report, "Early Microbial Life: Our Past, Present, and Future." The report sheds new light on how life on Earth emerged and evolved from non-living chemical compounds to the astonishing diversity of microbes and multicellular organisms we see today. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-unveils-insights-evolution-early-microbial.html Evolution Mon, 16 Jun 2025 12:06:06 EDT news669294363 Stanford University researchers report the discovery of eight previously unknown genes that, when expressed in tobacco leaves, reconstitute the Taxol precursor baccatin III at levels matching its natural abundance in yew needles. The find could accelerate the manufacture of a much-needed cancer drug. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-mpxsn-method-reveals-enzymes-cancer.html Biotechnology Mon, 16 Jun 2025 10:30:04 EDT news669287820 Two important concepts in evolutionary biology, mutualism and altruism, were first made famous by the colorful anarchist prince Peter Kropotkin. He argued that cooperation could be an equally powerful driver of evolution as competition. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-biodiversity-antarctic-soils-greatly-underestimated.html Ecology Wed, 21 May 2025 11:19:03 EDT news667045141