Oxygen shouldn’t be in the air we breathe. But it is, and the reason why is almost criminal.
bacteria & microbes
Treating Colloids as Clusters Better Predicts Their Behavior
New research suggests that an accurate prediction of colloidal particle mobilization in the environment should account for the effect of clustering.
Antibiotics Are Flooding Earth’s Rivers
The drugs can lead to drug-resistant bacteria and deadly infections.
Microbes Spotted in “Polyextreme” Hot Springs
Hot springs that are as acidic as battery acid are home to single-celled microorganisms that may indicate that life could have been sustained on ancient Mars.
Tracking Dissolved Organic Matter in Coastal Ecosystems
Dissolved organic matter supports aquatic food webs and holds as much carbon as the atmosphere. A new study tracks which sources and processes play the biggest role in coastal systems.
Marine Virus Survey Reveals Biodiversity Hot Spots
Ocean samples collected from around the world produced a twelvefold increase in the number of marine viruses known. A portion of the Arctic Ocean has “surprisingly high diversity.”
Understanding Stream Metabolism with Reactive Tracers
When the blue dye resazurin encounters living microorganisms, it transforms into fluorescent pink resorufin and helps scientists understand ecosystem respiration, but it has its limitations.
Mapping Ice Algal Blooms from Space
Satellite data reveal how colorful algae are melting the Greenland ice sheet.
For Some Copper Deposits, Microbes Make Minable Minerals
Copper ores were long thought to form through purely chemical processes, but a recent study provides the strongest evidence yet that microbial metabolism drives mineral production.
Baltic Bacterial Blooms Over the Millennia
Eutrophication not only is a present-day anthropogenic phenomenon in the southern Baltic but also occurred over the past few millennia, with cyanobacterial blooms during times of climate warming.