Microbial

Steve Smith in a Hawaiian cave passage filled with roots of the Kaʻu district on the Island of Hawai`i. Credit: Kenneth InghamCenturies-Old Lava Caves of Hawaiʻi Island Contain Thousands of Unknown Bacterial SpeciesHigher bacterial diversity than scientists expected has been uncovered in the lava caves, lava tubes, and geothermal vents on the big island of Hawaiʻi. The findings have been reported in a new study published today (July 21, 2022) in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology.This research investigates the variety…

Mars today is marked by its endless red desert plains. But it was not always like that. There was water and it flowed on its surface longer than previously estimated, a new research by NASA says. The Red Planet rippled with rivers and ponds just like Earth billions of years ago, providing a potential habitat for microbial life. That water, however, evaporated as the planet's atmosphere thinned over time. It was believed that the water evaporated about three billion years ago. But two scientists studying data, which Mars…

Once again, life has been found in an environment that would be deeply inhospitable to most organisms living on this planet.Fed by waters that pass through 600 meters (1,970 ft) of permafrost, the sub-zero, salty, virtually oxygen-free Lost Hammer Spring in the Canadian Arctic is one of the harshest places on Earth. Even here, however, life finds a way.  Scientists have found microbes thriving in the briny water that seeps up from deep below the permafrost – and it could offer a hint of the extraterrestrial microbial…

Packing material, disposable cutlery, CD cases: Polystyrene is among the most common forms of plastic, but recycling it isn't easy and the vast majority ends up in landfills or finds its way to the oceans where it threatens marine life.  Scientists at Australia's University of Queensland have now discovered that superworms – the larvae of Zophobas morio darkling beetles – are eager to dine on the substance, and their gut enzymes could hold the key to higher recycling rates.Chris Rinke, who led a study that was published…

There are estimated to be around three million shipwrecks sitting on sea beds around the world, many of them made from wood – and these submerged wooden islands are proving a vibrant breeding ground for deep sea microbes, a new study reveals.  Scientists say these human-made structures are having an important impact on the delicate ecosystems down at the bottom of the oceans, to an extent that hasn't really been appreciated before.Deep sea microbes living on submerged shipwrecks are positioned at the bottom of the…

Substituting 20% of meat from cattle with microbial protein — a meat alternative produced in fermentation tanks — by 2050 could halve deforestation, a new analysis by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) now published in Nature finds.“The food system is at the root of a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, with ruminant meat production being the single largest source,” says Florian Humpenöder, researcher at PIK and lead author of the study. That is because more and more forests that store a lot of…

Scientists used tools of genetics research similar to those used in genealogical research to evaluate the diversity of marine life off the California coast.Scientists Announce Comprehensive Regional Diagnostic of Microbial Ocean Life Using DNA TestingLarge-scale ‘metabarcoding’ methods could revolutionize how society understands forces that drive seafood supply and the planet’s ability to remove greenhouse gases.Researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, the J.…