All Asia & Oceania articles
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NewsFungi help biochar and compost lock more carbon in nutrient-poor urban soils
A new field study shows that soil fungi can determine whether urban greenspace amendments build long-term soil carbon or accelerate carbon consumption.
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NewsmRNA flu vaccine offers immune protection against wide array of influenza virus strains
A new study has found that an investigational mRNA influenza vaccine helps the immune system recognize a wider range of influenza viruses than today’s standard flu shot, offering stronger and potentially longer-lasting protection. The vaccine, developed by Moderna, is currently under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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NewsHow exercise fights implant infections: Muscle hormone “musclin” unveiled as a key defender
A new study reveals how the exercise-induced myokine musclin reprograms macrophage metabolism to clear dead cells and treat periprosthetic joint infections.
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NewsAntibody clues could improve long Covid care and prognosis
Researchers have found that SARS-CoV-2 antibody patterns may help assess infection history, symptom severity, and cognitive complications in long Covid.
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NewsBiochar may help stop antibiotics from escaping through hidden soil highways
A new study reveals that biochar can do more than simply trap pollutants. It may actively redirect antibiotic movement in structured soils, helping reduce the risk of contamination in nearby water systems.
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NewsStudy deploys DNA to track infectious bacteria from raccoons via rivers to humans
The emerging infectious bacterium Escherichia albertii has caused outbreaks of severe food poisoning and hospitalized people through contaminated water and foods, such as salad ingredients. A new study suggests a pathway by which invasive raccoons transmit infections to humans.
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NewsBiochar’s hidden electron power could unlock cleaner pollution control and energy recovery
A new review highlights how biochar’s natural redox properties may help overcome key barriers to large-scale environmental applications.
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NewsGLP-1s may alleviate depression in mice through the microbiome
Some people taking GLP-1 drugs for diabetes and obesity experience mental health benefits. In a mouse model study, researchers report that these improvements appear to result from gut microbiome changes that lead to an abundance of a microbe strain known to have a favorable effect on neurons related to stress.
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NewsBiochar triggers a five-year soil recovery cascade in acidifying rice paddies
A long-term field study reveals how biochar reshapes soil chemistry, microbes, viruses, and metabolites to support healthier agricultural ecosystems.
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NewsChina’s psittacosis knowledge gap: A scoping review calls for coordinated action
Psittacosis—a bacterial pneumonia transmitted from birds to humans—is experiencing a notable resurgence in China. A new review presents a sobering picture: psittacosis is epidemiologically substantive, clinically serious, and chronically underserved by institutional resources and public health infrastructure.
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NewsMicrobial research captured among winning science images
Microbial research features among some of the winning images in Nature’s 2026 Scientist at Work photography competition. Microbiome sampling of whale sharks, algal blooms, and a coral probiotics village feature among five spectacular images showcasing the diversity and challenges of scientific research.
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NewsTwo types of biochar help alfalfa survive salty soils
A new study shows that carefully designed biochar can guide plant metabolism and reshape beneficial microbial communities around the roots to help reduce stress from saline-alkali soil.
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NewsScientists just found 4 new species of underwater ‘living pink rocks’ that help to store carbon
Rhodoliths may look like small rocks on the seafloor, but they’re actually living algae that create habitats for marine life and contribute to long-term carbon storage. The deeper ‘low-light’ waters off Japan’s Tanegashima Island harbor a surprisingly distinct and diverse community, including four species completely new to science.
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NewsBacteria organise themselves into diverse, coordinated communities in order to travel across large distances
A new study examined the migration of microbial communities over long distances, and found bacteria migrate not as solitary swimmers, but in diverse, coordinated communities that also contain viruses and “hitchhiking” microbes that cannot swim on their own.
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NewsBiochar and beneficial microbes team up to restore polluted soils and boost crop growth
A new review examines how biochar-immobilized microbes can help clean contaminated soils, improve soil health, and support crop growth. By analyzing evidence from 92 published studies, the authors provide a data-driven overview of how this technology works and what is needed to bring it closer to practical use on farms.
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NewsWarming may weaken biochar’s climate benefits in cropland soils, global study finds
Researchers found that warming significantly increased carbon dioxide emissions from soils treated with biochar by an average of 77%. The effect was especially strong in croplands, where emissions increased by 117.5%, compared with 30.9% in forest soils.
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NewsQ&A: Meet Letters in Applied Microbiology Junior Reviewer Md. Ekramul Karim
We caught up with Md Ekramul Karim, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Houston, who is one of the newest Junior Reviewers with Letters in Applied Microbiology.
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NewsDolichol biosynthesis conserved across eukaryotes, not limited just to humans
Researchers say a newly proposed three-step “detour” pathway for making dolichol may be more universal than scientists realized. Experiments in yeast suggest eukaryotes may rely on overlapping biochemical pathways, including the evolutionarily conserved “detour” and evidence of a possible “backup route,” to produce a molecule essential to life.
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NewsWhat dental calculus can tell us about the oral microbiomes of ancient Japan
Microbe DNA from ancient dental calculus offers insights into the past oral microbiomes of the Japanese people, including the phylogeny of the periodontal disease-associated archaeon, Methanobrevibacter oralis.
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NewsAntibiotics drive resistance in waterways - even after they break down
Antibiotics continue to drive resistance to bacteria, even after they are broken down in wastewater treatment plants and discharged into rivers and seas, new research published on World Oceans Day has shown for the first time.