Scientists have documented examples of corals “remembering” prior exposure to heat stress in the field, and are now simulating these phenomena in the lab to better understand their cellular and molecular underpinnings.

Corals that previously experienced heat stress respond better the next time around. Researchers are trying to figure out how, and hope to one day take advantage of the phenomenon to improve coral restoration efforts. 

The Scientist spoke with physicist and microbial ecologist Idan Tuval, whose recent paper challenges the assumption that these single-celled organisms only communicate via chemical signals.

Injecting oxygen-generating algae into tadpoles allows brain activity to continue in the absence of oxygen, researchers find.

Spores found in 480 million-year-old rock bring the fossil record in line with molecular estimates of when plants first adapted to life on land.

Zhangfeng Hu will be unable to submit manuscripts for three years after having violated the journal’s policy about making study materials available to other scientists.

Researchers find a widespread decline in dissolved oxygen levels in lakes, which is known to reshape ecosystems.

Phylogenomics data place the enigmatic plankton in the middle of the algal family tree, despite their apparent lack of plastids—an organelle characteristic of all other algae.

In yellow-green and purple versions of the reef-building Acropora tenuis, the genes that code for particular fluorescent and other colorful proteins become more active in the summer, protecting symbiotic algae from thermal stress and resisting bleaching.

Tests point to a toxic algal bloom that might have led to the unprecedented deaths of hundreds of African elephants in Botswana earlier this year, but the evidence isn’t conclusive.

The 1-billion-year-old impressions have features similar to modern algae and indicate that photosynthesizing plants evolved at least that long ago.

Biological production of this greenhouse gas, once thought to be the reserve of anaerobic microbes, occurs in these widespread, photosynthesizing cyanobacteria.

Anemones keep their algae populations in check.

A single-celled organism has an energy-producing enzyme with unique features.

An analysis suggests that DNA cribbed from soil microbes enabled plants’ ancestors to colonize a terrestrial environment.

The protist Rhodelphis limneticus bears little resemblance to its close genetic relative, red algae.

Selected Images of the Day from the-scientist.com

Diverse plots of corals appeared healthier than monocultures at the end of a 16-month study.

Green fluorescent protein lures algal symbionts to corals.