Every environment around you – from the ground outside to the screen you’re staring at – is covered with life. Bacteria and other microbes have been found just about everywhere…
Continue ReadingJust two centuries ago, an estimated 70% of people died before the age of 25. In the mid-19th century United States, over 20% of children didn’t make it through their…
Continue ReadingWhat classifies an organism as living? New classes of viruses may blur the line between what is living and what is not.
Continue ReadingHow have creatures as simple as microbes managed to colonize every corner of the world, resist our weapons against them, and eat electricity? Turns out, they’re ridiculously good at evolution.
Continue ReadingScientists are at odds about the limits of life in the volatile terrain of Dallol, Ethiopia.
Continue ReadingWe usually define bacteria as being single-celled organisms. But with microbes, there’s always an exception to the rule.
Continue ReadingWith each flu season comes a bombardment of new advertisements reminding people to get a flu vaccine. The vaccine is free to most and widely available, yet almost half of…
Continue ReadingYou’ve heard of MRSA. You may even have heard of XDR-TB and CRE. The rise of antibiotic-resistant infections in our communities has been both swift and alarming. But how did…
Continue ReadingInfluenza is a virus that straddles two worlds: that of the past and that of the future. Responsible for more deaths than HIV/AIDS in the past century, the flu is…
Continue ReadingSo let’s say, hypothetically, that your lab receives blood samples from a group of individuals to study genetic links with diabetes. However, these samples would also provide important insights into…
Continue ReadingGot the flu? Time to start looking for your frog prince. Researchers at Emory University have identified a substance that kills influenza, the virus that causes seasonal flu. The…
Continue ReadingI’ve found that it is rather difficult to write an article when you are lying in the fetal position and afraid to move. No, I wasn’t trying to hide from…
Continue ReadingImage a researcher has been tasked with studying how hibernation affects a bear’s microbiota, or the collection of microorganisms residing on and in an organism. The researcher begins his day…
Continue ReadingYou’re at a social gathering and someone asks, “So, what do you do?” It’s meant to be a casual conversation starter, but do you ever find yourself taking a mental…
Continue ReadingHumans do not find plastic bottles tasty. Try as we might, ingestion and digestion of an Auquafina bottle makes for a bad dinner. On the other hand, some bacteria see…
Continue ReadingRecently, I read an article in The Atlantic by Ed Yong, an experienced science writer whom I admire. In this article, Mr. Yong describes a study commissioned by the Wellcome…
Continue ReadingTraditionally, plant ecologists seeking to better understand plant communities looked up (at light availability or precipitation patterns), across the landscape (at elevation or topography), and down (at leaf litter depth…
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