Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. This microbe can survive doses of radiation that would ...

All animals, plants, fungi, and people may trace their family tree back to one tiny microbe that lived about 2 billion years ago. By comparing DNA from obscure, deep-sea microbes, scientists have ...

The vast community of microbes in the human gastrointestinal tract–the gut microbiome, has many close links to human health and well-being. The gut microbiome can vary significantly from one person to ...

Researchers have homed in on a single gut microbe that acts to prevent fat gain, even with a high-fat diet. The discovery adds to the booming science of finding ways to enlist the microbes that ...

PHILADELPHIA — Deep in the mangrove swamps of the Caribbean lives a giant bacterium with a surprise trick for organizing its DNA. Thiovulum imperiosus wraps its genetic material in membranous fingers, ...

A microbial metabolite long linked to cardiovascular risk emerges as a surprising ally against metabolic inflammation, revealing how gut–host signaling can reset glucose control by targeting a single ...

Trimethylamine (TMA), a molecule produced from dietary choline by gut bacteria, has been shown to block a key immune pathway and improve blood sugar control. This microbial molecule may provide a ...

Within this dinoflagellate plankton (Citharistes regius) is a tiny microbe that acts more like a virus than a cell. Credit: Takuro Nakayama/University of Tsukuba In the dim waters off the Japanese ...

The tiniest life forms are sometimes the strongest of them all—that is, they’ll survive anywhere and do everything they can to stay alive. Apparently, this even includes faking their own death. In ...

A photosynthetic bacterium shows a surprising ability to absorb persistent PFAS chemicals, offering a glimpse into biological tools that might one day tackle toxic contamination. Researchers are now ...

Coastal marshes and estuaries often harbor vibrio, a potentially lethal microbe that, in some forms, can infect wounds of people exposed to brackish water. Vibrio also can settle in oysters and sicken ...

The organism, an early-evolving bacterium named Hydrogenobacter, thrives in the hydrothermal spring environments of Yellowstone National Park, which are rich in sulfur but have very low dissolved ...