Boldly illuminating biology's 'dark matter'

Is space really the final frontier, or are the greatest mysteries closer to home? In cosmology, dark matter is said to account for the majority of mass in the universe, however its presence is inferred by indirect effects ...

Geographic isolation drives the evolution of a hot springs microbe

Sulfolobus islandicus, a microbe that can live in boiling acid, is offering up its secrets to researchers hardy enough to capture it from the volcanic hot springs where it thrives. In a new study, researchers report that ...

Rethinking the wild world of species diversity in microbes

University of Maryland biologists developed the first mathematical simulations of bacterial communities that incorporate the complex interactions and rapid evolution among bacteria and reflect the tremendous species diversity ...

Do gut microbes shape our evolution?

Scientists increasingly realize the importance of gut and other microbes to our health and well-being, but one UC Berkeley biologist is asking whether these microbes—our microbiota—might also have played a role in shaping ...

Microbial mats offer clues to life on early Earth

Ancient clusters of rock that preserve some of the oldest microbes on Earth occasionally possess mysterious branch-like formations. Now, scientists think they know what might have caused this enigmatic branching—changes ...

Genome organization of organism reflects its 'hot' lifestyle

(Phys.org) —Microbial genomes have incredible functional and regulatory complexity, making them of great interest for potential environmental, energy, health, and industrial applications. In a study published in PLoS Genetics, ...

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