Microbiology

Latest about Microbiology

Tiny organisms known as plankton float in the darkness in this eerie picture teeming with life.

Bizarre, never-before-seen viruses discovered thriving throughout the world's oceans

By Sascha Pare published

The discovery of a strange group of viruses, dubbed mirusviruses, that infect ocean plankton across the globe may shed light on the origin of herpes.

Microbiology
An amoeba under a microscope

What is an amoeba?

By Aparna Vidyasagar, Scott Dutfield published

Reference The term “amoeba” refers to simple eukaryotic organisms that move in a characteristic crawling fashion.

Reference
Image of a rod-like bacterium

Biggest bacterium ever discovered amazes scientists with its complexity

By Nicoletta Lanese published

Scientists discovered an absolutely massive bacterium that can be seen without the aid of a microscope and lurks among the mangroves of Grande-Terre in the Caribbean.

Microbiology
Protists are one of the six kingdoms of life. This illustration depicts vorticella protozoa attached to an algae substrate.

What are protists?

By Aparna Vidyasagar published

Reference Protists are one of the six kingdoms of life. They are simple eukaryotic microorganisms that do not fall into the plant, animal, bacteria or fungus groups.

Reference
difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells under a microscope

What is the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells?

By Traci Pedersen, Scott Dutfield published

Reference Learn about the many differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and how they evolved.

Reference
A photo of a hedgehog in the grass.

Drug-resistant superbug lived on hedgehogs long before we used antibiotics

By Patrick Pester published

A type of antibiotic-resistant bacteria was on the skin of hedgehogs long before humans started using the antibiotics that scientists thought created these superbugs.

Microbiology
A bacteriophage illustration.

10 things we learned about microbes in 2021

By Nicoletta Lanese published

Here's 10 new things scientists learned about the mysterious world of microbes.

Microbiology
Image at 10 times magnification of an experimental mixture of myxobacteria from a strain that overexpresses TraAB and adheres to itself (yellow) and a strain that is non-adhesive and non-reversing (blue).

Swarms of mutant bacteria look just like Van Gogh's 'Starry Night'

By Harry Baker published

A new study of swarming bacteria has created microscope images that resemble Vincent van Gogh's paintings.

Microbiology
This colorized image (a scanning-electron micrograph) shows four spherical methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria (purple) in the process of being “ingested” by a human neutrophil white blood cell (blue).

What are bacteria?

By Aparna Vidyasagar, Stephanie Pappas published

Friend or foe? These tiny microbes can cure or kill.

Microbiology
Animation shows a hair-like structure called a pili pushing a nanowire through the membrane of a bacterial cell

Scientists discover on-off switch for bacteria that breathe electricity

By Nicoletta Lanese published

The discovery could have applications in electronics and medicine.

Microbiology
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