microbiology, ecology

Viruses abound in the world’s oceans, yet researchers are only beginning to understand how they affect life and chemistry from the water’s surface to the sea floor.

Researchers discover a microbe living at -15°C, the coldest temperature ever reported for bacterial growth, giving hope to the search for life elsewhere in the cosmos.

Doctors turn to good microbes to fight disease. Will the same strategy work with crops?

Successive awakening of soil microbes drives a huge pulse of CO₂ following the first rain after a dry summer.

A brewmaster is creating a signature concoction using yeast found in his facial hair.

Diverse plant communities create a disease-fighting "soil genotype."

Rather than rely on plant-derived products, biotech companies are engineering bacteria and yeast to produce ingredients for fragrances.

Grasshoppers in fear of predation die with less nitrogen in their bodies than unstressed grasshoppers, which can affect soil ecology.

A new study shows that grooming by ants promotes colony-wide resistance to fungal infections by transferring small amounts of pathogen to nestmates.

Meet some of the people featured in the March 2012 issue of The Scientist.

Researchers engineer a bacterium that can arm the majority of the insect population with dengue resistance, and stop the virus’s spread to humans.

Life on Earth is mind-bogglingly diverse with estimates of the number of existing species in the tens of millions. Over the last 4 billion years, many species have gone extinct; and because of the actions of humans, many existing species are now endangered.

Mosquitoes infected with the Wolbachia bacteria, which fail to transmit the dengue virus, spread through the population when released in the wild.

Plant and fungal symbionts swap more resources with partners that provide a greater return of nutrients.

Meet some of the people featured in the August 2011 issue of The Scientist.

I the dark Arctic shallows one research finds heterotrophic marine bacteria doing a surprising amount of carbon fixing.

Researchers reveal several new viruses lurking in healthy hives.

Columbia University evolutionary ecologist Dustin Rubenstein explains just why it's so interesting and important to find slime molds that engage in a form of agriculture.