Yeast

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.

With psilocybin on the cusp of becoming a clinically validated and approved medicine, scientists are exploring new ways to produce the chemical. Now a team has presented a novel method of producing the psychedelic chemical using common yeast.

Doctors are reporting a bizarre case of a woman who urinates alcohol. The woman showed none of the other regular signs of excessive alcohol consumption, leading them to conclude that yeast in her bladder was brewing the booze.

In an exciting new breakthrough from scientists at UC Berkeley, common brewer’s yeast has been engineered to produce several major cannabinoids found in marijuana. This innovation promises faster, cheaper and easier production of these compounds for use in research and medical treatments.

To peer back in time at certain key steps of evolution, scientists at the Scripps Research Institute have engineered synthetic microorganisms designed to be similar to some that might have lived billions of years ago.

Researchers at Purdue University have developed a living device for radiologists, using yeast colonies in wearable patches to monitor how much radiation a person is being exposed to.

Living cells follow instructions encoded in DNA to construct organisms. It’s long been thought that one DNA sequence would always create the same protein, but now researchers have found the first exception to this “universal rule,” a microbe that chooses between two different translations each time.

Overpacking isn't exactly an option for trips into space, even for longer trips like an eventual manned mission to Mars. Now, researchers are recruiting microorganisms to solve the problem, by engineering them to make nutrients and 3D-printable plastics out of human waste.

We need to develop new antibiotics, but the fungi species that produce them can be hard to work with. Now, scientists have used baker’s yeast to create penicillin, which is a big step towards creating easy-to-tweak “mini-factories” for new antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs.

Impossible Foods is the latest alternative food company to introduce a version of lab-made "meat" with its plant-based Impossible Burger, which is said to look, smell and taste like real meat. The secret ingredient? Heme, a component of the red pigment in blood.

Belgian researchers working in collaboration with the world's largest chocolate producer, Barry Callebaut, have bred robust yeasts that ferment cocoa to produce bespoke aromas and flavors in the finished chocolate.

Researchers working at the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Services (ACES) claim to have produced a yeast that could vastly increase the quality of wine while also reducing its hangover-inducing properties.