How microbes on rock surfaces control groundwater chemistry
Far below the Earth’s surface, deep inside cracks and pores in solid rock, vast communities of microorganisms are quietly at work.
These microscopic organisms are...
Why one of Earth’s most common ocean bacteria is surprisingly fragile
One of the most abundant living organisms on Earth may also be one of the most vulnerable.
A group of ocean bacteria known as SAR11,...
What an ancient jellyfish can teach us about the evolution of sleep
An upside-down jellyfish drifts in a shallow lagoon, rhythmically contracting its translucent bell.
By night that beat drops from roughly 36 pulses a minute to...
A 40-million-year-old ant hidden in Goethe’s amber still has stories to tell
More than 200 years after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s death, his curiosity about nature is still leading to new discoveries.
Scientists in Germany have now...
For the first time, scientists detect molecule critical to life in interstellar space
The chemical is known as thiepine, or 2,5-cyclohexadiene-1-thione (C₆H₆S), a ring-shaped sulfur-bearing hydrocarbon produced in biochemical reactions.
When examining the molecular cloud G+0.693–0.027, a star-forming...
How ancient microbial fossils reveal the earliest story of life on Earth
More than 3.5 billion years ago, Earth looked nothing like it does today.
The air contained no oxygen, the oceans were acidic and filled with...
Why the carbon in your body and the oxygen you breathe came from ancient...
Where did the carbon in our bodies and the oxygen we breathe come from?
Astronomers have been asking this question for decades, and a new...
Ancient life leaves wrinkled traces in an unexpected place
Sometimes big discoveries begin with a moment of surprise. For Dr. Rowan Martindale, a paleoecologist and geobiologist at the University of Texas at Austin,...
Scientists find a hidden “aging clock” in human sperm—and it may affect the next...
Scientists have discovered a previously hidden biological “aging clock” in human sperm, revealing a new way that a father’s age might influence the health...
Enceladus plumes may hold a clear clue to ocean habitability
How can scientists estimate the pH level of Enceladus’ subsurface ocean without landing on its surface?
This is what a recently submitted study hopes to...