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Bacteria

Latest Articles

Simpler Math Tames the Complexity of Microbe Networks

January 19, 2018

The dizzying network of interactions within microbe communities can defy analysis. But a new approach simplifies the math and makes progress possible.

Simple Bacteria Offer Clues to the Origins of Photosynthesis

October 17, 2017

Studies of the energy-harvesting proteins in primitive cells suggest that key features of photosynthesis might have evolved a billion years earlier than scientists thought.

Building Codes for Bacterial Cities

July 25, 2017

Hydrodynamics and competition guide the architectural design of biofilm fortresses.

The Mutant Genes Behind the Black Death

October 6, 2015

Only a few genetic changes were enough to change an ordinary stomach bug into the bacteria responsible for the plague.

At Tiny Scales, a Giant Burst on Tree of Life

July 28, 2015

A new technique for finding and characterizing microbes has boosted the number of known bacteria by almost 50 percent, revealing a hidden world all around us.

Biologists Invoke the Past in Modern Bacteria

June 18, 2015

By swapping ancient genes into modern E. coli, scientists hope to tease out the rules of evolution.

Below Our Feet, a World of Hidden Life

June 16, 2015

The soil teems with billions of hidden microbes. Researchers have begun to catalog how these organisms are changing the world.

Breakthrough DNA Editor Born of Bacteria

February 6, 2015

Interest in a powerful DNA editing tool called CRISPR has revealed that bacteria are far more sophisticated than anyone imagined.

Where Animals Come From

July 29, 2014

Bacteria may have helped single-celled organisms make the leap to multicellular animals.

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