Microbes, Bacteria, Viruses

After the defeat of Cleopatra's forces by Octavian (later Augustus, emperor of Rome), the Egyptian queen and her lover Marc Antony fled to Egypt. In Shakespeare's imagining, one of Cleopatra's greatest fears was the the horrid breath of the Romans. Shown here: "The Death of Cleopatra" by Reginald Arthur, 1892.

The History and Science Behind Your Terrible Breath

Persistent mouth-stink has been dousing the flames of passion for millennia. Why haven’t we come up with a cure?

The better to infect you with, my dear...

For Viruses, the Best Way to Infect Baby Is Through Mama

Some viruses might take it easier on women—to get to their children

The Nobel Prize, named after the repentant creator of dynamite, has been awarded nearly every year since 1901.

What Does It Take to Win a Nobel Prize? Four Winners, in Their Own Words

Some answers: Messiness, ignorance and puzzles

Human skeletons found in a mass grave near the ruins of a medieval monastery in the English countryside.

English Mass Grave Sheds New Light on the Horrors of the Black Death

The burial pit contained 48 skeletons that tested positive for the plague

The Best Books About Science of 2016

Take a journey to the edge of human knowledge and beyond with one of these mind-boggling page-turners

That looks nutritious.

Everyone Poops. Some Animals Eat It. Why?

Consuming feces can benefit not only the health and microbiomes of some animals, but also their environments

Heavy drinking can cause brain changes that make you want to drink more.

How a Genetically Engineered Virus Could Help the Brain Fight Alcohol Cravings

Heavy drinking can change the brain to make cravings worse. Can gene therapy change it back?

The LudusScope is an open-source, 3D printed, smartphone-integrated microscope.

With This Smartphone Microscope, You Can Play Soccer and Pac-Man With Microbes

Stanford engineer Ingmar Riedel-Kruse built a 3D-printed microscope that allows students to not only observe but also interact with tiny creatures

Ramazzottius varieornatus, the tardigrade examined in the study

Water Bear Genes Could Help Protect Space Explorers From Radiation

A protein produced by tardigrades, a group of microscopic but hardy creatures, protects and repairs DNA damaged by X-rays

Researchers fear that these normal monk seal encounters could soon grow deadly.

Why Rare Hawaiian Monk Seals Are Lining Up to Get Their Shots

Fearing devastating disease, researchers are vaccinating a wild marine mammal for the first time

E. coli quickly becomes antibiotic resistant.

Watch E.coli Evolve Before Your Eyes

This is how antibiotic resistance happens

This Slo-Mo Sneeze Video Shows Just How Far Spray Clouds Can Spread

Gross as it may be, by mapping the ejected sneeze droplets, researchers hope to better control the spread of disease

As more countries and companies send spacecraft to other worlds, scientists are worried about potential contamination risks. Here, NASA's Curiosity rover takes a self-portrait on Mars.

Can We Save Mars From Ourselves?

When we travel to Earth-like worlds, contamination may be inevitable

Like humans, captive Komodo dragons tend to impose their microbes upon their environments.

Captive Komodo Dragons Share Their Teeming Microbiome with Their Environment, Just Like Us

Komodos could be the perfect model for studying host-microbe interactions

Think Curiosity is cool? You ain't seen nothing yet.

How the Next Generation of Mars Rovers will Search for Signs of Life

The Mars 2020 rover doesn’t even have a name yet—but it already has an ambitious goal

When It Comes to West Nile Virus, Atlanta's Cardinals May Be Our Feathered Saviors

New research suggests the bright red birds are viral “super-suppressors”

Haiqiang Chen tests his UV oven at the University of Delaware

Summer Produce Could Last Longer With These Five New Technologies

Scientists seek solutions to slow the inevitable process of decomposition

A new type of antibiotic is effective against antibiotic-resistant bacteria like Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Scientists Find New Type of Antibiotics Hiding in the Human Nose

This whiff of success could be just the beginning of many new antibiotics

Sully Vent in the Main Endeavour Vent Field in the northeast Pacific, similar to the environment LUCA would have lived

Behold LUCA, the Last Universal Common Ancestor of Life on Earth

New discoveries suggest life likely descends from the inhospitable environment of deep sea vents

A drone shot of a researcher collecting data on cryoconite holes on the Greenland Ice Sheet.

The Tiny World of Glacier Microbes Has an Outsized Impact on Global Climate

Microbes living on glaciers collectively cover an area the size of New Hampshire—and they could have a big influence on global climate

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