Microbes

Microbial fuel cells are a promising new way to generate electricity, but so far they’re plagued by inefficiency. Researchers at UCLA have now found a way to wring more energy out of them, by feeding the bacteria silver to make them more conductive.

Agriculture requires huge amounts of land and resources, and as the human population grows our food supply will be put under increasing stress. But a new study shows that farming protein from microbes could be a far more sustainable and efficient system.

Most of us have in our busy lives wished there were more hours in the day. That wish actually came true billions of years ago – and that might be why we have so much oxygen now, as photosynthesizing microbes took advantage of the productivity boost.

Scientists have collected viruses from almost-15,000-year-old ice cores, taken from glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau. Dozens of species were found to be unknown to science, which could provide an intriguing look back at the history of viral evolution.

Paramecium and certain other microbes move through liquid by whipping back and forth hairlike appendages known as cilia. Scientists have now developed a new type of synthetic cilia, which could find use in micro-robots and more.

Researchers at Indiana University have linked a protein secreted by the stomach to obesity. In tests in mice, the team switched off the protein and found that it reduced the animals’ body fat levels, even when fed a high-fat diet.

Scientists have discovered the fossil of what may be the earliest multicellular animal ever found. Dating back a billion years, the microscopic fossil contains two distinct cell types, potentially making it an ancestor to advanced animals.

One of the main goals of NASA’s Perseverance rover is to scour the surface of Mars for signs of ancient microbial life. But a new study of the geochemistry of the Red Planet suggests that life could still be thriving below its surface today.

Decades of overuse means bacteria are quickly developing resistance to antibiotics. A new study has found that an FDA-approved drug can act as an "anti-antibiotic,” reducing the development of drug resistance when taken alongside an antibiotic.

Fertilizers typically contain phosphorous, as it's essential to growing plants. Unfortunately, though, it can become "locked" in the soil, and thus not available to crops. That said, it turns out that the addition of a microbe could unlock it.

In what sounds like the opening of a sci-fi movie, scientists have revived microorganisms that have laid dormant for 100 million years. These microbes were found deep beneath the seafloor, where they’ve been slumbering since the age of dinosaurs.

A newly discovered microbe identified in wild mosquito populations in Kenya has been found to protect the insects from malaria infection and could be recruited for malaria control strategies to limit transmission of the disease into human populations.