All Environmental Microbiology articles – Page 2
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NewsMarine-inspired sunscreen ingredient made by E. coli
Researchers have engineered microbial “cell factories” to sustainably produce the UV-protective compound gadusol, which could eventually serve as a sunscreen ingredient and an antioxidant additive. Gadusol, found in the eggs of various fish and other marine organisms, helps protect against ultraviolet damage.
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NewsThe fog is alive - with tiny helpers
What if fog isn’t just misty air, but a living ecosystem? This question hung over cloud researcher Thi Thuong Thuong Cao. As a PhD student at Arizona State University, her curiosity led her from knocking on the doors of microbiologists and chemists, to sampling fog before sunrise in Pennsylvania, to ...
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NewsDoes agriculture and climate affect feeding activities of soil animals?
An international research team has shown that soil animal communities have greater trophic diversity in agricultural ecosystems and in tropical regions. Animals that feed on microorganisms – such as nematodes, springtails and mites – had higher trophic diversity than those that feed on dead organic matter or live as predators.
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NewsInvasion, restoration, and the surprising season for soil life
Microbes beneath our feet quietly orchestrate the health of ecosystems, but their seasonal rhythms remain a mystery—especially in coastal wetlands. A new study uncovers a surprising twist: microbial diversity and interaction networks are richer and more intricate in winter than in summer.
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NewsSoil science reimagined: From farmland to the final frontier
A new perspective offers a compelling call to reimagine the future of soil science. The article outlines a conceptual framework for “nontraditional soil science,” encompassing diverse fields from urban engineering to forensic soil analysis and planetary exploration.
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NewsAlgal bloom crisis shows climate risks need evaluative governance
Identifying and analysing climate risks is a necessary function of governments, but researchers argue such processes will not lead to effective action without taking additional steps to understand which risks are considered unacceptable by the community and prioritising responses accordingly.
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NewsThe Nexus of Food Systems, Ecosystems and Human Health: Sign up for our fascinating free webinar!
What if health is not produced by humans alone, but co-created with the ecosystems, organisms, and food systems we depend on? A fascinating free webinar will explore how microbes connect people to food systems and the ecosystems that undergird food production.
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News‘Not just hot water’: marine heatwaves can create toxic relationship between seagrasses and microbes
Heat stress from marine heatwaves can create a toxic relationship between seagrasses and a hidden ecosystem of bacteria, transforming a previously beneficial co-existence between marine plants and microbes into a harmful one, a study has found.
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NewsHow river DNA can track fish, frogs, fungi and human feces — all at once
A single scoop of water from an Irish river revealed evidence not only of Ireland’s only frog species, but also signs of the dreaded B. dendrobatidis fungus, marking the first time this devastating amphibian disease has been spotted in the country and exposing a previously unknown risk to Ireland’s frog population.
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NewsStudy uncovers new kind of cold sensor
Investigators studying a bacterial protein have identified a new mechanism of sensing cold temperatures. The finding points to the possibility that this same type of mechanism exists in other organisms, including humans, and may have relevance for disorders involving faulty temperature regulation.
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NewsResearchers uncover hidden health risks from urban airborne microbes
Researchers have discovered that seemingly insignificant microbial components in the air, including bacteria, fungi, viruses and cellular debris, pose a long-overlooked health hazard. Bacterial endotoxins can trigger inflammatory responses in the human respiratory system in nearly 20% of cases.
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NewsNutrient imbalance may drive coral disease more than heat stress, new study suggests
New research shows that an imbalance of nutrients in seawater can cause coral disease – possibly to a greater extent than that from heat stress of warming oceans. Disruption of the delicate nutrient balance of the sea can destabilise microbial communities that live in harmony with corals.
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NewsData from Earth’s most remote atoll show soil fungi are key to island regeneration
Palmyra Atoll, a remote, uninhabited speck of land, coral and sea halfway between Hawaiʻi and American Samoa, is one of the healthiest, intact atolls on the planet—so ecologically sensitive that visiting researchers freeze their clothes at night to kill invasive species. Source: NASA NLT Landsat 7 (Visible Color) ...
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NewsIs asphalt bad for our health? And can algae help?
Scientists studying how asphalt emissions impact respiratory health are also working on less toxic, lower-emitting asphalt formulations. One project involves growing a strain of algae that could reduce VOC emissions using wastewater from a treatment plant.
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NewsConnected habitats help wildlife fight disease, strengthen protective microbes
Maintaining connections between natural habitats may support beneficial microbes that help wildlife defend against disease. A new study found that amphibians in connected natural forests and aquatic habitats were more likely to host beneficial skin microbes that inhibit a deadly fungal pathogen.
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NewsHow tiny cave shrimps grazing on microbes power the underworld of the Yucatan
Because they convert microbial growth in sinkholes beneath the Yucatan Peninsula into animal biomass, Typhlatya shrimps act as “keystone species”, introducing essential nutrients into the cave’s food web. They serve as a crucial initial link that larger subterranean predators feed on.
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NewsHong Kong’s waters at risk from over-the-counter drug pollution
A recent study of Hong Kong’s river and estuary systems has uncovered an overlooked major source of water pollution: common over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. Accessible, everyday OTC drugs accounted for up to 85% of pharmaceutical pollution in these waters during the wet season.
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NewsViruses found in Antarctic air, including some new to science
It may seem stark and lifeless, but the air around the remote sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia contains viruses, including some that are new to science. Using metagenomics, researchers discovered that South Georgia harbours a diverse and dynamic airborne viral community.
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NewsA world within the leaves: Sign up for our fascinating free webinar
A single tree can harbour hundreds of species - yet few people will realise that some of those species live within the very leaves themselves. A fascinating free webinar will explore the fascinating world of fungal communities that live inside leaves.
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NewsNitrogen addition reshapes forest microbes: A five-year insight into community dynamics
A new study reveals how long-term nitrogen enrichment influences soil bacterial communities and network stability, with surprising insights into ecological processes and dissolved organic matter’s critical role.