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Microbiome

To find the roots of an unlikely connection, researchers are untangling lemur microbiomes. Here, ring-tailed lemurs feast at Serengeti Park in Hodenhagen, Germany.

New Research

What Lemur Guts Can Tell Us About Human Bowel Disease

Similarities between us and the cuddly primates could help us understand the origins of human illnesses—and treat them

The York Gospels

New Research

Medieval Manuscripts Are a DNA Smorgasbord

Researchers are finding animal DNA in the parchment pages as well as genetic fingerprints from humans (like kissing priests)

Little does it know, but getting eaten by a great tit is the least of this grub's worries.

New Research

Meet the Supervillain Worm That Gets By With a Little Help From Its Friends

This deadly nematode and its sidekicks reveal the power of bacterial symbiosis

Researchers tested the fungus that grew in this isolated habitat as four people lived in it for a month.

Space-Bound Humans Bring Fungus Aboard—And the Stowaways Could Cause Trouble

Microscopic life is everywhere, but it could be dangerous for future astronauts bound for Mars

When it comes to a crowdsourcing campaign, food might be an easier sell than feces. “Food is this amazing platform because we all have a connection to it, we all can relate,” says microbiologist Rachel Dutton. Not that poop isn't relatable, but, you know.

New Research

You Are What You Eat, And What You Eat Is Millions of Microbes

Now that they’ve tallied up American feces, researchers are turning to the other half of the microbial equation: food

A serpentinite sample

New Research

How Low Can Life Go? New Study Suggests Six Miles Down

Evidence of life from below a mud volcano hints at life beneath the crust

Paleo diet? Not so much. Thanks to Neanderthal dental plaque, researchers are getting a much better idea of what our ancestors actually dined on.

New Research

Scientists Delve Into Neanderthal Dental Plaque to Understand How They Lived and Ate

The plaque that coated Neanderthal teeth is shedding new light on how our ancestors ate, self-medicated and interacted with humans

New Research

What Cell Phone Grime Reveals About Lifestyle

Chemical traces left on cell phones show what people eat, what drugs they take and even what cosmetics they use

That looks nutritious.

Everyone Poops. Some Animals Eat It. Why?

Consuming feces can benefit not only the health and microbiomes of some animals, but also their environments

Like humans, captive Komodo dragons tend to impose their microbes upon their environments.

Captive Komodo Dragons Share Their Teeming Microbiome with Their Environment, Just Like Us

Komodos could be the perfect model for studying host-microbe interactions

The microbes living in soil may be crucial for healthy plants. What's more, soil microbiomes are hyperlocal, varying immensely from place to nearby place.

Age of Humans

Soil Has a Microbiome, Too

The unique mix of microbes in soil has a profound effect on which plants thrive and which ones die

A new type of antibiotic is effective against antibiotic-resistant bacteria like Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

New Research

Scientists Find New Type of Antibiotics Hiding in the Human Nose

This whiff of success could be just the beginning of many new antibiotics

This 3D model of a microbial community within the human gut allows researchers to study how bacterial changes influence overall health.

How Miraculous Microbes Help Us Evolve Better, Faster, Stronger

Invisible yet crucial, our microbial partners add a gene-swapping plot twist to evolutionary theory

An up close view of coral

Cool Finds

Watch Corals in Action With New Underwater Microscope

The Benthic Underwater Microscope opens up a whole new age of ocean exploration

Cool Finds

Australians Make Beer Out of Belly Button Lint

Melbourne’s 7 Cent Brewery will debut a Belgian-style Witbier later this month brewed using yeast strains cultivated from its founders’ navels

New Research

Every City Has a Unique Microbial “Fingerprint”

From architecture to microbes, every city is different

Mom and baby share a lot, including their microbial ecosystems.

New Research

Does Having a C-Section Alter Baby’s First Microbiome?

A study of cesarean babies swabbed with birth canal fluids suggests that some newborns may be missing out on helpful microbes

A typical U.S. Army Meal, Ready-to-Eat.

Cool Finds

Here’s What Military Rations From Around the World Are Made Of

From bibimbap to beans

New Research

Microbe Cells Don’t Outnumber Your Own

For years people have cited the ten-to-one ratio, with microbes dominating human cells, but that number is probably wrong, according to recent research

A German cockroach in a moment of solitude.

New Research

The Scent of Their Own Poop Entices Cockroaches to Congregate

Gut microbes imbue German cockroach feces with scents that allow them to find kindred groups

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