Humans have harnessed the power of microbes for centuries, for example using yeast to make bread, beer, yogurt and wine via fermentation. These living organisms are useful to us because they perform chemical reactions as ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 29, 2021
0
88
Plants, algae and some bacteria are able to perform photosynthesis, which is the process of transforming sunlight energy into sugar. Animals are generally unable to use this process to acquire energy, but there are a few ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 15, 2021
0
4
What the fruit fly is to zoologists, the thale cress is to botanists. The widespread herb with the botanical name Arabidopsis thaliana serves them as a model organism from which knowledge can be gained for other plants. It ...
Evolution
Jul 14, 2021
0
13
Despite having been formalized as a species in 1936, Wolbachia pipientis remains an elusive microbe. The reason why relates to the relationship it establishes with its hosts. Wolbachia lives inside the cells of 40% of the ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jul 7, 2021
0
5
The buff-tailed bumblebee Bombus terrestris is one of the most common bumblebee species in Europe. It is not only active in nature as a pollinator—humans also use it in greenhouses and foil tunnels to get good harvests ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 28, 2021
0
20
Choosiness will lead to the best offspring. Being too choosy, however, could in the end result in no offspring at all. Female fruit flies have a solution to this dilemma.
Plants & Animals
Jun 22, 2021
0
12
Various forms of complex multicellular organisms have evolved on Earth, ranging from simple Volvox carterii, which possess only two cell types, to humans, with more than 200 cell types. All originate from a single zygote, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jun 7, 2021
0
2
Rubisco is arguably the most abundant—and most important—protein on Earth. This enzyme drives photosynthesis, the process that plants use to convert sunlight into energy to fuel crop growth and yield. Rubisco's role is ...
Biotechnology
May 24, 2021
1
30
The acidity of the atmosphere is increasingly determined by carbon dioxide and organic acids such as formic acid. The second of these contribute to the formation of aerosol particles as a precursor of raindrops and therefore ...
Earth Sciences
May 12, 2021
0
13
How do simple creatures manage to move to a specific place? Artificial intelligence and a physical model from TU Wien can now explain this.
Cell & Microbiology
May 10, 2021
0
84
