Microbe "Eats" Electricity

Researchers have found a common bacteria (Rhodopseudomonas palustris) uses a method called extracellular electron transfer (EET) to pull electrons from iron and conductive minerals found in soil for use with sunlight as nourishment in their own metabolism.

Algae Forced into Multicellularity

Using a centrifuge technique, biologists have forced a single-celled alga (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) to evolve and cluster into a true multicellular organism, compressing the hundreds of millions of years of evolution of multicellular life into a sufficiently short timeframe for real-time study.

New Clean Room Microbe

A rare new strain of microbe (Tersicoccus phoenicis) that survives harsh sterilization techniques and with almost no nutrients has been discovered in two spacecraft clean rooms in Florida and South Africa, a bacteria so different from known species it has been classified with a new genus.

Giant Viruses Discovered

Researchers have discovered a previously unknown class of megaviruses (Pandoravirus) seemingly found everywhere and of unknown function or effect, some a thousand times larger than a flu virus and with 200 times as many genes with only 6% of those genes known to science.

Bacteria in Storm Clouds

Researchers have found bacteria on hailstones that ordinarily live on plants and in the soil, suggesting these bacteria present a new transient microbial ecosystem in storm clouds where they reproduce and affect cloud chemistry and may influence weather patterns as nucleation points for precipitation.

New Estimate for Microbial Life

New data from studies of single-celled organisms living in marine sediment on the sea floor at the extremes of nutrient starvation downsize previous estimates by as much as 92%, reducing the overall estimated population of microbial life and biomass on Earth by about half.

Bacteria Form Electrical Grids

New research shows bacteria and other microbial life can use conductive minerals in the soil as electrical grids, allowing for the transfer of electrons necessary to produce and consume the chemicals they need to survive.

New Uncategorized Protozoan

Genetic analysis of a new protozoan species (unnamed, simply referred to as the protozoan) discovered in a lake in Norway show the organism does not fit into any known branch of the tree of life and may provide insight into ancient life from 1 billion years ago.

Human Urine Not Sterile

Researchers have identified live bacteria in the urine of a sample of healthy women, challenging the long-held notion that human urine is a sterile substance.

Underground Desert Oasis

Researchers have discovered a robust ecosystem of bacteria, archaea, DNA and other molecules of life only two meters beneath the surface of the Atacama Desert in Chile, the driest place on Earth and a good analogue for most of the terrain of Mars.

Multicellular Clusters Replicated

Scientists have replicated a key evolutionary step in the development of multicellular life using ordinary brewer's (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) yeast, forcing the normally single-celled organisms to "evolve" into clusters of cells working together over the course of a 60-day experiment.

New Life in Dead Sea

Results from a 2010 diving expedition to the bottom of the Dead Sea reveal an "impressive" network of about 30 craters with freshwater springs and a host of new microbial life forms living in the otherwise harsh hypersalinity of the location.

Ancient Antibiotic Resistance

Researchers have found antibiotic-resistant genes in samples of 30,000-year-old bacterial DNA, demonstrating that such resistance is a natural phenomenon and predates modern medical antibiotic use.

Drug Kills Multiple Viruses

A new drug named DRACO has been developed that can destroy numerous strains of viruses that infect mammalian cells, the first time a single drug has been effective against a range of viruses.

Bacteria in Hailstones

A high concentration of bacteria have been discovered at the inner core of hailstones recovered after storms, suggesting that airborne microorganisms may play a part in weather events as nucleating particles for precipitation.

34,000-Year-Old Cells Found

Sealed within a fluid-filled chamber constructed of salt crystals, scientists have found 34,000-year-old microorganisms living in a state of hibernation within a microscopic ecosystem and have been able to culture new microbes from these samples.

Arsenic-Tolerant Bacteria

Scientists have isolated arsenic-tolerant bacteria (GFAJ-1) found in a California lake and have cultured them to thrive in an arsenic-heavy environment, possibly substituting arsenic for phosphorus on a molecular level and changing the baseline chemistry believed necessary for life to function.

Life Found Deep in Earth

A research team drilled into the gabbrioc layer, the layer just above Earth's mantle, and found colonies of unique bacteria living at a depth of 1391 meters beneath the surface, evolved to feed on hydrocarbons like methane and benzene.

Longest Life-Cycle

Researchers looking for cold-loving microbes on the Norwegian coastal sea floor discovered a dormant species of bacteria that only germinated at temperatures above 50 C, making them the organism with the longest life-cycle as they lay in the freezing Arctic sediment for 100 million years.

Ancient Beer and Antibiotics

A chemical analysis of 2000-year-old Nubian bone samples reveals regular doses of the antibiotic agent tetracycline in their diet, derived from streptomyces bacteria included in the soil that produced grain and cultivated in their brewing of beer intentionally for medicinal purposes.