Microbes

  1. Microbes

    Explainer: Virus variants and strains

    When viruses become more infectious or better able to survive the body’s immune system, they become a type of variant known as a strain.

    By Janet Raloff
  2. Microbes

    Let’s learn about microbes

    There may be a billion species of microorganisms on Earth — but scientists have only discovered a small fraction of them.

    By Sarah Zielinski
  3. Animals

    Common parasite may help mussels survive heat waves

    By whitening shells, the organism helps the shellfish stay cool on sunny days, a new study suggests.

    By Sid Perkins
  4. Microbes

    Several plant-like algae can morph into animal-like predators

    Single-celled green algae swim through water as free cells. Most use only photosynthesis for their energy. But not all of them, a new study shows.

    By Laura Allen
  5. Microbes

    Some microbial hitchhikers may weaken body’s attack on COVID-19

    New research identifies an altered mix of microbes in the body — ones commonly seen in people with poor diets — that may worsen coronavirus disease.

    By Ana Maldonado-Contreras
  6. Health & Medicine

    Some young adults will volunteer to get COVID-19 for science

    Researchers will soon give some healthy people the new coronavirus. Their young volunteers have agreed to get sick to speed coronavirus research.

    By Jonathan Lambert
  7. Agriculture

    Healthy soils are life-giving black gold

    Scientists explain why everyone needs to value the soils beneath our feet — and why we should not view them as dirt.

    By Catherine Arnold
  8. Agriculture

    Soil (and its inhabitants) by the numbers

    Teeming with life, soils have more going on than most of us realize.

    By Catherine Arnold
  9. Animals

    Choked by bacteria, some starfish are turning to goo

    For years, researchers thought gooey, dying starfish were infected. Instead, these sea stars are suffocating. And bacteria may be behind it all.

    By Erin Garcia de Jesús
  10. Animals

    Scientists Say: Organelle

    An organelle is a part of a cell with a particular function. Like organs. But for cells.

    By Bethany Brookshire
  11. Health & Medicine

    Scientists Say: Apoptosis

    When it’s time for cells to die, they need to do it carefully, so they don’t harm other cells.

    By Bethany Brookshire
  12. Microbes

    Scientists Say: Nucleus

    Nucleus comes from the Latin term “nuc,” meaning nut or kernel. In science there are lots of nuclei. Every one of them is the center of something.

    By Bethany Brookshire