Using an environment on Earth that simulates early Mars conditions, researchers found an abundance of bacteria that get their energy from sulfur-containing molecules, suggesting a new focus in the search for biosignatures on the Red Planet.
A study of burned and unburned cigarettes found that water chemistry and microbes living in Mediterranean beach sediments changed after 4 days of exposure to a cigarette filter.
Microbes on Earth have adapted to survive in some pretty extreme locations. The extreme dryness of deserts, high salinity in salt deposits, cold temperatures of glaciers, and even high pressures of the deep ocean don’t stop some life forms. Another extreme environment is created by a rock known as serpentinite. This…
Many organisms live by breathing in oxygen and breathing out carbon dioxide, and those that don’t often live by taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. However, did you know that these aren’t the only ways life can survive? Researchers recently discovered Sulfurimonas marinigri, a species of bacteria that…
Cement is one of those common building materials that you can find just about anywhere. When the cement starts to get cracked, fixing it is generally an easy task that involves widening the crack slightly before filling it with more cement. Now, imagine having to fix cracking cement that is buried 1 kilometer (3281…
Sulfuric acid production by sulfur-oxidizing bacteria may be a solution to a long standing mining problem.
All life on Earth has to respire. For us this means inhaling oxygen to fuel our metabolism and exhaling waste gases like carbon dioxide. When we do this, we move the energy from the food we eat to the oxygen we breathe, creating a flow of energy that our cells use for growth. This is called respiration. However, not…
In the Marvel Universe, Bruce Banner exposed his body to high doses of gamma radiation during an experiment in his lab. The gamma radiation deformed Bruce’s DNA, so whenever he became angry, he could turn into the Hulk. In the real world, gamma radiation is a type of high energy radiation that is extremely dangerous…
A new investigation into antibiotics resistance shows just how big of an issue antibiotic-resistant bacteria is right now, and we need to find a way to stop these infections from occurring and affecting so many people around the world.
We may be the most successful land mammal, but pound for pound, plants and bacteria still have us beat.
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