New evidence from the depths of the Red Sea supports the oxidation of manganese and iron as an engine for life in the earliest oceans.
bacteria & microbes
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Tiny Cyanobacteria May Be the Secret Heroes of Ocean Carbon Sequestration
Even when larger phytoplankton produce more carbon, much of it is lost on the journey to the ocean floor.
Posted inFeatures
Antimicrobial Resistance Is Killing Millions. Climate Change Is Making It Worse.
A growing body of evidence indicates that factors such as rising temperatures and extreme weather are contributing to what some researchers have called “the slow pandemic.”
Posted inResearch Spotlights
It Takes Three to Model Methane Right
By combining conventional process-based and atmospheric inversion modeling with machine learning, scientists home in on a more realistic methane model.
Posted inNews
A Rare Look at How Life First Colonizes Cooling Lava Tubes
Life finds a way, and when volcanoes form new land, it gets going as soon as temperatures drop to manageable levels—even underground.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
The Definitive Guide to the TEX86 Paleothermometer
A new review article summarizes our knowledge of how microbial lipids archived in marine sediments record ancient ocean temperatures and outlines challenges and next steps for the TEX86 proxy.
Posted inFeatures
Jess Atkin: Space Biologist Enriches Soil and the Lives of Fellow Veterans
This biologist—also a rancher and Air Force veteran—finds solace in horses as she studies how to grow plants on the Moon.
Posted inNews
Big Trouble from Little Wetlands
New research suggests that small wetlands, previously unaccounted for in the global methane budget, are responsible for about 25% of global methane emissions.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Typhoons Mix Up Bacteria and Biochemistry
After a typhoon surprised a research cruise, scientists took advantage of the unique sampling opportunity to reveal rapid changes in bacterioplankton communities and biogeochemical cycling.
Posted inNews
Warm Waters Disrupt Seagrasses’ Microbial Environment
Microbial communities in ocean sediments become imbalanced as water temperatures rise, harming seagrass growth, a new study suggests.