Microbes

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.

Life continually outdoes expectations. A new study from MIT has found that E. coli and yeast can survive in an atmosphere made up of 100 percent hydrogen – and that could have fascinating implications for life on other planets.

We keep finding life thriving under conditions we’d previously ruled out. The latest example comes from studies of rock cores drilled from the floor of the Indian Ocean, where microbes were discovered alive and well under almost half a mile of rock.

The Mars 2020 rover will be touching down in Jezero Crater and now there’s more evidence this was a good choice. Two new studies have found that the landing site is rich in minerals that could preserve fossils of ancient microbes and other lifeforms.

Researchers at Rice University have developed a new air filter made of graphene foam, which can kill captured microbes with small zaps of electricity.

Antibiotics aren’t picky, blasting good and bad bacteria alike and messing up the delicate balance of the gut microbiome. But now researchers have developed a more targeted approach, with drugs that are able to zero in on specific species of bacteria.