Jekyll and Hyde bacteria aids or kills, depending on chance

Living in the guts of worms are seemingly innocuous bacteria that contribute to their survival. With a flip of a switch, however, these same bacteria transform from harmless microbes into deadly insecticides.

Seeing without eyes: Hydra stinging cells respond to light

In the absence of eyes, the fresh water polyp, Hydra magnipapillata, nevertheless reacts to light. They are diurnal, hunting during the day, and are known to move, looping end over end, or contract, in response to light. ...

Fleas collected from Norway rats in downtown LA carry human pathogen

Most fleas collected from rats trapped in downtown Los Angeles, California carried microbes from the genus, Bartonella, many of which are human pathogens, according to a paper in the November Applied and Environmental Microbiology. ...

Scientists uncover an unhealthy herds hypothesis

Biologists worldwide subscribe to the healthy herds hypothesis, the idea that predators can keep packs of prey healthy by removing the weak and the sick. This reduces the chance disease will wipe out the whole herd, but could ...

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