microbial-community-ecology-and-physiology

Ancient DNA from 46 Lake Baikal hunter-gatherers revealed two early plague outbreak phases about 5,500 years ago, with Yersinia pestis detected in 18 individuals. The findings suggest these basal plague strains caused lethal, child-heavy outbreaks long before dense farming societies, cities, or classical flea-borne bubonic plague emerged.

Synthetic microbial communities give researchers controlled models for testing how diet reshapes gut microbial ecology, metabolism, and host-relevant responses. The review highlights how SynComs can strengthen causal inference, improve intervention testing, and support future precision nutrition, while noting major challenges in stability, standardization, and ecological realism.

Koalas survived a climate-driven population crash 100,000 years ago, and new genomic research is helping scientists better protect the species today. A major genomic study has transformed scientists’ understanding of koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) evolution, showing that the species underwent a dramatic population decline about 100,000 years ago, long before humans reached Australia. Researchers …

A new study untangles the complex microbial history of Ötzi the Iceman, revealing which microorganisms originated during his lifetime and which arrived long after his death. For more than 5,000 years, Ötzi the Iceman has carried an invisible community of microbes through ice, time, and modern museum preservation. Now, scientists have taken the most detailed [...]

Scientists have discovered microbes living thousands of feet underground in places once thought to be nearly uninhabitable.

Plague is often linked to medieval Europe, crowded cities, and rats carrying infected fleas. However, a new study published in the journal Nature shows that the disease was already killing people thousands of years earlier. Researchers have discovered that plague caused deadly outbreaks among hunter-gatherers in Siberia about 5,500 years ago, long before cities and […] The post Ancient plague was…

Biology teachers around the world commonly introduce their students to the concept of 'trophic cascades'...

A new study shows that the amount of Bifidobacterium in the gut during a child’s very first week of life is linked to the risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at the age of 10 years. The finding suggests that signalling molecules from gut bacteria may influence brain development during a particularly sensitive window immediately after birth, says a researcher.

A surprising discovery inside desert mosses could reshape scientists’ understanding of plant evolution. In some of the driest places on Earth, the ground itself can be alive. What looks like a thin, dark crust on desert soil may actually be a miniature ecosystem, packed with mosses, fungi, bacteria, algae, and tiny animals. These biological soil [...]

Scientists have uncovered a shared target used by multiple diarrhea-causing bacteria to invade the gut. Despite decades of research, scientists still do not have vaccines against two of the world’s most common causes of severe bacterial diarrhea: enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) and Shigella. Together, these pathogens infect hundreds of millions of people each year and [...]

Slow-healing lesions — common in diabetics and burn victims — can lead to lingering infections that resist antibiotic treatment. A new approach using light-activated therapies may offer a solution.

A new study suggests plague was already a deadly threat 5,500 years ago, striking small hunter-gatherer communities long before cities and agriculture emerged. For centuries, plague has been remembered as the disease that devastated medieval Europe, killing millions and reshaping societies. But new research suggests its deadly history stretches much further back than previously thought. [...]

Ecologists and a veterinarian looked at more than 400 studies to see how to stop cats from bringing home unwelcome pathogens.

Meet Drag Me Outside, a Portland, Oregon, hiking group fusing queer community with biology. The post How Drag Me Outside Is Rebranding Queer Nature Walks in Portland appeared first on Outside Online .

More than 100 million years ago, a flying reptile called a pterosaur flew over the oceans hunting squid and fish. Much more recently, one of its wing bones was discovered in Brazil, transformed over the eons into a fossil made of a complex assemblage of different chemicals and minerals. And in new research published in […] The post Microbes destroyed an ancient pterosaur’s wingbone, then preserve…

Animals from different species often rely on surprisingly sophisticated communication to work together, whether finding food, cleaning parasites, or gaining protection. New research suggests these interspecies “conversations” are flexible, evolved, and far more important to life in nature than scientists once realized.