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Home > News > Tags > microbes
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While massive asteroid impacts have the potential to cause global extinction events on the surface, they are apparently good news for microorganisms living below Earth's crust, a new study has uncovered.
The conclusion came after scientists at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland conducted a study of an anc... |
17 April 2012
06:01 GMT |
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A new study conducted on images sent back by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express orbiter hints at the possibility that microbial life on the Red Planet may endure inside landscape features called pit-chains.
As seen to the left, these structures can be found on the flanks of some of the solar system&... |
9 April 2012
02:52 GMT |
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Scientists at the University of Washington and MIT believe that microbes should be added to the plethora of variables that are accounted for in climate models. Biology should be added to fields such as atmospherics, oceanography, seismology, geology, physics and chemistry.Each computer model seeking to determine how ... |
15 February 2012
11:25 GMT |
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In addition to being extremely dangerous to humans on their own, many microorganisms also display the ability to mutate extremely fast, so that they can adapt to new, unexpected situations at a moment's notice. The capability was observed as scientists monitored microbes in a new experiment.
The research team,... |
27 January 2012
03:31 GMT |
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Space robotics experts at the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) are working on a new generation of exploration rovers. They say that the machines would look entirely different from the robots we're used to seeing launch in space. For starters, they will be powered by microbes. Scientists acknowledge the fact th... |
4 January 2012
11:02 GMT |
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A team of experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announces the development of a new model that can simulate the way unicellular bacteria and multicellular microbes distribute energy throughout their bodies.
The balance between energy production and expenditure inside any living organism is calle... |
4 January 2012
07:32 GMT |
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If the resilience of Earth's lifeforms is any indication, then organisms could survive on Mars as well. Granted, not all areas of Red Planet may be inhabitable, but researchers think that lava tubes may provide the necessary environment for life to endure.
There are two main ways for Mars to have acquired life.... |
3 January 2012
09:49 GMT |
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Investigators at the Harvard University announce the discovery of a naturally-occurring battery at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. The construct is powered up by microorganisms that live near and around structures called hydrothermal vents. These are locations in the Earth's crust from which hot gases are ven... |
12 December 2011
10:23 GMT |
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A group of experts at the Tufts University announce the creation of a form of invisible ink. The method relies on the use of patterned bacteria cultures, which only glow under very specific conditions. The message is inscribed in the patterns in which the microorganisms have been grown on the medium.
On the surfac... |
27 September 2011
04:31 GMT |
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For many years, researchers have been wondering why is it that certain microorganisms appeared to be capable of producing electricity while they were cleaning up nuclear wastes and toxic metals. The results of a new investigation finally shed light on the mechanisms involved in this ability.
The work was carried ... |
7 September 2011
08:32 GMT |
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The group of researchers that announced the creation of the world's first synthetic genome in May 2010 argued at a recent event that colonizing Mars could be made a lot easier and cheaper with the help of synthetic, genetically-engineered microorganisms.Expert geneticist Craig Venter's team explains that su... |
19 August 2011
08:15 GMT |
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Back in 2008, the NASA Phoenix Mars Lander made its way to the surface of the Red Planet, landing close to the north pole. Immediately upon descent, experts found beads of saltwater on the spacecraft's legs. Now, they are investigating whether this mixture can support life.Researchers at the University of Michig... |
18 August 2011
05:46 GMT |
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A new investigation from experts at the FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Cambridge, evidence that even basic microbes are capable of sophisticated sensory adaptation.This was though to be impossible in lower species until now. Researchers w... |
2 August 2011
04:49 GMT |
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When selecting the extrasolar planets most likely to support life, astrobiologists should consider objects with intense levels of volcanic activity as prime candidates. Researchers in the United States say that sulfurous compounds released by volcanoes may be like oxygen for lifeforms. While it may be inconceivable f... |
1 July 2011
09:44 GMT |
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A type of bacteria can remain in hibernation for as much as 100 million years, and this makes them the organisms with the longest known life cycle on the planet. Experts say that the microorganisms live on the Arctic sea floor, and that they make the best use possible of the conditions in their environment.
The o... |
23 May 2011
05:03 GMT |
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While animals are a common presence all over the planet today, things weren't always set up this way. In fact, more than 550 million years ago, there were no animals to speak of. Researchers are now investigating how the earliest complex lifeforms came to be.Scientists are now proposing that the first animals ma... |
18 May 2011
03:58 GMT |
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Investigators from the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) say that plants may have once had a complex immune system, just like our own. The only difference was that theirs was in the ground. The team in California determined that plants used to defend themselves ... |
6 May 2011
08:06 GMT |
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Experts have recently begun assessing the extent to which life may be capable of surviving on other worlds by analyzing the limits within which it does so here on Earth. Researchers are now focusing their attention of ancient microbes living under the Earth's crust.
While the role that these animals play in u... |
4 May 2011
07:35 GMT |
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Experts have found that an extremely odd community of microorganisms is currently devouring the wreck of the Titanic, the large cruise ship in the world at its time. The wreckage is 99 years old, and is in danger of disappearing soon. Studies conducted starting in 2000 revealed the existence of a bacterial complex th... |
14 April 2011
06:06 GMT |
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A scientist known for his innovations in biofuel technologies managed recently to achieve another important breakthrough in the field. His accomplishment could lead to the wide adoption of butanol over ethanol, as a primary biofuel. The researcher managed to create a new method of producing the fuel, which no longer ... |
22 March 2011
11:36 GMT |
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Although a lot less exposed to the media than large animals and birds, microorganisms such as bacteria and microbes were also seriously affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill last year. This discovery goes a long way towards showing the real extent of the damage the catastrophic event caused. Scientists say t... |
4 March 2011
05:10 GMT |
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In a bid to provide clean and environmentally-safer fuel for the transportation industry, experts at the University of California in Berkeley (UCB) have engineered bacteria that are capable of producing biofuel similar to gasoline at ten times the rate microbes are capable of. The breakthrough could stir up a competi... |
2 March 2011
09:45 GMT |
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Experts in the field of structural biology are proud to announce a momentous achievement in their area of expertise. Colleagues from an international research group were recently able to use the world's first free electron laser (FEL) to capture an image of an intact virus. In addition to viewing the tiny microo... |
3 February 2011
15:01 GMT |
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A collaboration of American researchers announces that it has successfully completed a long-term effort to characterize the genes and genomes of plant-digesting microbes that live in the rumen (forestomach) of cows and other ruminants.
These microorganisms hold no intrinsic value, but they are able to break down ... |
29 January 2011
15:01 GMT |
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Though they did not multiply in some 30 million years, organisms known as bdelloid rotifers manage to endure. Scientists say that this ability stems from the fact that the tiny invertebrates can simply dry themselves up, and then blow away.Paul Sherman, a professor of neurobiology and behavior at the Cornell Universi... |
18 January 2011
16:01 GMT |
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Marine biologists and ocean scientists are currently trying to figure out a mystery that has been surrounding the Gulf of Mexico these past few weeks. Chemical analysis reveal little traces of methane, the most common hydrocarbon that was produced in these water following the 2010 oil spill. According to the results ... |
7 January 2011
10:06 GMT |
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Humans pollute the Earth and in the Pacific Ocean, between California and Japan, there is a lot of plastic trash floating around, but saying that this “Great Garbage Patch” is twice the size of Texas is highly exaggerated and completely unacceptable, according to an analysis by an Oregon State University ... |
5 January 2011
06:56 GMT |
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Scientists in the United States are currently engaged in a series of researches that will allow them to determine which strains of the dangerous parasite Toxoplasma are the most dangerous for humans, as well as for other animals. These parasites are among the few that can infect any warm-blooded animal.There are seve... |
4 January 2011
09:07 GMT |
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Working off the coast of Peru, a team of researchers was a short while ago able to study a population of the microbes that live beneath the Pacific Ocean floor. These microorganisms are the closest thing to asteroid/extinction-proof lifeforms in the world. The microbes live at geological timescales. The group believe... |
30 December 2010
09:23 GMT |
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Since Jupiter's moon Europa was first discovered, experts have proposed that it could contain life, given the large spreads of ice covering its surface. Now, a microbe discovered in the Canadian Arctic may finally confirm whether life on the Jovian moon is possible or not. Investigators believe that the new stud... |
14 December 2010
09:19 GMT |
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When we hear of invasive species we think at the Asian carp, the zebra mussels or at the gypsy moths, because it's what we hear of most, but a study conducted by a Michigan State University professor, warned that there are much smaller invaders, that are almost invisible but which affect ecosystems and keep flou... |
8 December 2010
08:24 GMT |
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On December 2, NASA experts announced the discovery of a new lifeform here on Earth, that substituted arsenic for phosphorus in its most basic processes. The remarkable finding has been heavily criticized since, and a heated debated has been raging on over this topic for about a week. Yesterday, December 7, one of th... |
8 December 2010
04:59 GMT |
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One of the main fears that astrobiologists have is that if they send a lander or a rover to another world, it may carry with it microorganisms that would contaminate the results of the investigation, essentially rendering it useless. Researchers need to be absolutely positive that if they discover a life form on Mars... |
25 November 2010
09:07 GMT |
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Investigators say that it's high time to begin a serious search for sings of present or past life on Mars. Landers and rovers we've sent there have shown us so much of how the planet works, but now it's time to start searching for the thing we set out to find in our space explorations – life some... |
11 November 2010
06:52 GMT |
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Over the past few years, numerous studies have sought to gain more insight into how microorganisms living in the world's oceans affect the global climate, by regulating Earth's carbon, nitrogen and sulfur cycles, among others. One of the most peculiar things about these organisms is that they appear to star... |
2 November 2010
06:50 GMT |
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Given that we are at, or nearly at, Peak Oil, it stands to reason that the costs associated with building roads are increasing, and that government can no longer afford to maintain their road systems. Now, a new method of producing asphalt is being developed to counter these effects.The technique is critical for avoi... |
1 November 2010
04:49 GMT |
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Professor Willy Verstraete is the head of the Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET - Faculty of Bioscience Engineering) at Ghent University, Belgium and he held a lecture yesterday, about the way that environmental problems can be solved thanks to molecular and biotechnological techniques.Until rece... |
12 October 2010
08:42 GMT |
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Researchers believe that engineering microbes, bacteria and other microorganisms that can produce food and fuel is the way to go if we want to colonize Mars.They explain that, otherwise, the costs associated with carrying vast amounts of food and propellant to the Red Planet would make colonizing missions impossibleI... |
24 September 2010
14:01 GMT |
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New investigations appear to suggest that terraforming Mars is entirely possible, if future settlers use cyanobacteria for the job. These minute organisms are extremely resilient and adaptive, and they can undoubtedly defeat the harsh conditions of the Red Planet.While it may be true that the microbes could pave the ... |
9 September 2010
09:50 GMT |
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In a series of new scientific investigations, researchers learned that an unclassified, previously-unknown species of microbes is leading the way for microorganisms in the Gulf of Mexico to break down the massive underwater oil plume contaminating the area. The structure developed after the Deepwater Horizon semi-sub... |
25 August 2010
03:24 GMT |
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It's a well-known fact that humans cannot survive without the thousands of species of bacteria that exist within our guts. They help us break down certain compounds, so that we can make the most out of what we eat. But a new study shows that we are not the only species who engages in such behavior. Certain speci... |
30 July 2010
10:51 GMT |
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Throughout history, microbes and other microorganisms left their mark on humanity, and not in a good way. Worthy of mention is the Irish potato blight of the 19th Century, which was triggered by a type of parasitic algae, and which killed more than a million people, reducing the country's population by between 2... |
23 July 2010
04:09 GMT |
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Discovering microorganisms in their natural habitat, and analyzing them on the spot, could easily provide researchers with new, more elaborate data on these lifeforms. Studying them in the lab is not always the best thing to do, and at times it may be more efficient to study them in the wild. Researchers at the Arizo... |
9 June 2010
03:59 GMT |
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The goal of producing electricity through renewable, clean methods has been with science for many years, but it has taken on new significance over the past couple of decades. The threats of global warming and climate change have placed more emphasis on deriving electricity from the Sun, wind, Earth's heat and so... |
2 June 2010
06:03 GMT |
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The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) are currently sponsoring a five-year-long research initiative, whose aim is to make sense of the microbes and bacteria that reside on and inside our bodies. Not all microorganisms are bad for our health, and in fact we wouldn't even be alive without some cultures in our... |
21 May 2010
04:48 GMT |
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For many years, researchers believed that, with the rise in global temperatures our planet is currently experiencing, microbes in the ground would boost their greenhouse gas production as well, contributing to climate change. But new data from American investigators seems to suggest that the influence of these microo... |
26 April 2010
02:50 GMT |
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While performing science deep under the surface of the Caribbean Sea, the HyBIS underwater vehicle came across the deepest hydrothermal vent ever discovered. This type of structures are chimney-like formations, through which mineral-rich water, heated to large temperatures by our planet's mantle, pours out into ... |
12 April 2010
04:34 GMT |
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According to new data presented March 28 at the spring meeting of the Society for General Microbiology, held in Edinburgh, it may be that using microbes to break up plastic is the way to go. Most people tend to consider plastic objects as being disposable, but in fact they can take up to several thousand years to bre... |
29 March 2010
04:13 GMT |
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A new scientific study, published in the March issue of the respected scientific journal Geology, proposes that the first organisms to colonize the lands on our planet may have had some help. The earliest microbe populations that lived in the world's water, alongside shore lines and elsewhere, could hypothetical... |
5 March 2010
15:01 GMT |
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Stromatolites are stony structures that were produced billions of years ago by microbes. In fact, they are so old that most of them were produced about 1.1 billion years ago. Researchers don't yet know how these cabbage leaf-layered stromatolites were formed, but they are aware that microbial colonies most likel... |
2 March 2010
02:36 GMT |
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