Rethinking the wild world of species diversity in microbes

University of Maryland biologists developed the first mathematical simulations of bacterial communities that incorporate the complex interactions and rapid evolution among bacteria and reflect the tremendous species diversity ...

Microorganisms in the subsurface seabed on evolutionary standby

Researchers at the Center for Geomicrobiology at Aarhus University, Denmark, have sequenced the genomes of several microorganisms inhabiting the subsurface seabed in Aarhus Bay. The results reveal the extreme evolutionary ...

Is evolution predictable?

We are surrounded by microorganisms that adapt in their struggle to survive. In plants and animals, such adaptations can take thousands of years; in microorganisms, they sometimes occur within weeks. To understand such rapid ...

Do gut microbes shape our evolution?

Scientists increasingly realize the importance of gut and other microbes to our health and well-being, but one UC Berkeley biologist is asking whether these microbes—our microbiota—might also have played a role in shaping ...

Microbial mats offer clues to life on early Earth

Ancient clusters of rock that preserve some of the oldest microbes on Earth occasionally possess mysterious branch-like formations. Now, scientists think they know what might have caused this enigmatic branching—changes ...

How a species stays relevant as it changes its world

How complexity evolved in cells is a question as intriguing as it is difficult to explain. Though we cannot fully solve the puzzle, we can learn how species give themselves time to go from random to programmed development.

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