P lastics are easy to throw out but hard to get rid of. Unlike biodegradable materials, bacteria and fungi haven’t evolved the ability to break them down, leaving plastic garbage to languish for ...

A team from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology has discovered a new class of bacterial mobile genetic elements that use giant viruses—known as jumbo phages—to move between cells. The ...

Deep within the world's oceans lurk marine bacteria armed with plastic-munching enzymes, their evolution seemingly sculpted ...

New studies from Arizona State University reveal surprising ways bacteria can move without their flagella — the slender, whip ...

Ancient viral DNA in bacteria helps block new infections, offering a potential path to fight antibiotic resistance.

Beneath the ocean’s surface, bacteria have evolved specialized enzymes that can digest PET plastic, the material used in bottles and clothes. Researchers at KAUST discovered that a unique molecular ...

While gut bacteria play an essential (if not always socially tactful) role in human nutrition, a wealth of recent research ...

Microbes are masters of survival, evolving ingenious strategies to capture energy from their surroundings. For decades, ...

A photosynthetic bacterium shows promise in capturing PFAS, offering new hope for microbial cleanup of “forever chemicals.” Researchers from the–Lincoln College of Engineering are turning to an ...

Nitrogen metabolism of gut bacteria can provide health benefits. Specifically, gut microbes metabolize dietary nitrates and nitrites and prevent the formation of cancer-causing compounds called ...