Extreme Survival News

June 13, 2025

Top Headlines

May 29, 2025 — A new study reveals that the aerobic nitrogen cycle in the ocean may have occurred about 100 million years before oxygen began to significantly accumulate in the atmosphere, based on nitrogen isotope analysis from ancient South African rock cores. ...

Study Discovers DNA Switch That Controls TB Growth, and Could Help Unlock Its Antibiotic Resistance Secrets

May 22, 2025 — The bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB) may have an 'on-off switch' that lets them pause and restart growth, according to a new study. The research helps explain why TB is so hard to treat with ...

Yeast Reveals How Species Adapt to a Warmer Climate

May 21, 2025 — How do organisms adapt to climate change? A new study reveals the complex interplay between genetic diversity and temperature tolerance ...

Artificial Oxygen Supply in Coastal Waters: A Hope With Risks

May 5, 2025 — Could the artificial introduction of oxygen revitalise dying coastal waters? While oxygenation approaches have already been proven successful in lakes, their potential side effects must be carefully analysed before they can be used in the sea. This ...

Electricity-Generating Bacteria May Power Future Innovations

May 1, 2025 — A team has discovered how certain bacteria breathe by generating electricity, using a natural process that pushes electrons into their surroundings instead of breathing on oxygen. The findings could enable new developments in clean energy and ...

Geobiology: Iron, Sulfur, Heat -- And First Life

Apr. 30, 2025 — The very first cells obtained their energy from geochemical reactions. Researchers have now managed to recreate this ancient metabolic process in their ...

Hotter Temps Trigger Wetlands to Emit More Methane as Microbes Struggle to Keep Up

Apr. 23, 2025 — In the soils of Earth's wetlands, microbes are in a tug-of-war to produce and consume the powerful greenhouse gas methane. But if the Earth gets too hot, it could tip the scale in favor of the ...

New Species of Electricity-Conducting Organism, Name It After Tribe

Apr. 22, 2025 — Scientists have identified a novel species of bacteria that acts as electrical wiring, potentially ushering in a new era of bioelectronic devices for use in medicine, industry, food safety, and environmental monitoring and ...

Microorganisms Employ a Secret Weapon During Metabolism

Apr. 16, 2025 — In the global carbon cycle microorganisms have evolved a variety of methods for fixing carbon. Researchers have investigated the methods that are utilized at extremely hot, acidic and sulfur-rich hydrothermal vents in shallow waters off the island ...

Missing Nitrogen: A Dramatic Game of Cosmic Hide-and-Seek Deep Within Our Planet

Apr. 11, 2025 — Earth's rocky layers are mysteriously low in nitrogen compared with carbon and argon. A scientific team explored our planet's molten youth using advanced quantum mechanical simulations, revealing ...

Life Recovered Rapidly at Site of Dino-Killing Asteroid: A Hydrothermal System May Have Helped

Apr. 8, 2025 — About 66 million years ago, an asteroid slammed into the planet, wiping out all non-avian dinosaurs and about 70% of all marine species. But the crater it left behind in the Gulf of Mexico was a ...

An Answer to Green Energy in Hydrogen-Generating Marine Microbes

Apr. 3, 2025 — A genomic study of hydrogen-producing bacteria has revealed entirely new gene clusters capable of producing large volumes of ...

Latest Headlines

updated 1:05pm EDT

Multi-Resistance in Bacteria Predicted by AI Model

Apr. 2, 2025 — An AI model trained on large amounts of genetic data can predict whether bacteria will become antibiotic-resistant. The new study shows that antibiotic resistance is more easily transmitted between ...

Scientists Solve 'Cocktail Party' Mystery of Bat Echolocation

Mar. 31, 2025 — Every night, bats emerge out of roosts in massive numbers, creating what scientists have called a 'cocktail party nightmare' of clashing echolocations. Nobody knew how bats managed this severe ...

The Evolution of Low-Temperature Adapted Enzymes

Mar. 25, 2025 — Enzymes originally evolved in high-temperature environments and later adapted to lower temperatures as Earth cooled. Scientists discovered that a key shift in enzyme function occurred over ...

Fluorescent Caves Could Explain How Life Persists in Extraterrestrial Environments

Mar. 25, 2025 — Deep below the Earth's surface, rock and mineral formations lay hidden with a secret brilliance. Under a black light, the chemicals fossilized within ...

Sulfur Bacteria Team Up to Break Down Substances in the Seabed

Mar. 7, 2025 — Scientists have decoded the metabolic strategies of certain sulfur bacteria. A new study reports that the bacteria are found worldwide and have a complex metabolism with modular ...

Scientists Discover Protein Key to Bacteria's Survival in Extreme Environments

Mar. 18, 2025 — The discovery sheds light on how certain bacteria -- including strains that cause food poisoning and anthrax -- form spores for ...

Signs of Alien Life May Be Hiding in These Gases

Mar. 12, 2025 — Scientists identify a new way to detect life in outer space with currently existing telescopes. The method hinges on worlds that look nothing like Earth, and gases rarely considered in the search for ...

No Need to Wing It: Bat Activity in Winter Analyzed

Mar. 12, 2025 — Winter in the South can bring about a sharp change in conditions that impact forests and their many inhabitants. However, new research finds that, despite these seasonal shifts, forest management ...

Adaptability of Some Coral Reef Fish to Rising Temperatures

Mar. 6, 2025 — Researchers have found that reef fish from the Arabian Gulf, the world's hottest sea, exhibit a higher tolerance to temperature fluctuations compared to those from more thermally stable coral reefs. ...

Damaged but Not Defeated: Bacteria Use Nano-Spearguns to Retaliate Against Attacks

Mar. 5, 2025 — Some bacteria deploy tiny spearguns to retaliate against rival attacks. Researchers mimicked attacks by poking bacteria with an ultra-sharp tip. ...

Reactive Nitrogen Species Dominance Is Key in the Fight Against Antimicrobial Resistance

Feb. 27, 2025 — The balance between two types of molecules -- reactive nitrogen species (RNS) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) -- plays a crucial role in tackling drug-resistant bacteria, according to a new ...

Elucidating the Photosynthetic Mechanism of Purple Sulfur Bacteria Living in High-Salt, High-Alkaline Environments

Feb. 25, 2025 — Researchers have investigated the structure and light energy transfer efficiency of a protein complex crucial to the photosynthesis of purple sulfur bacteria thriving in high-salt, high-alkaline ...

Nitrogen Fixation on Marine Particles Is Important in the Global Ocean

Feb. 19, 2025 — Nitrogen is essential for all life on Earth. In the global oceans, however, this element is scarce, and nitrogen availability is therefore critical for the growth of marine life. Some bacteria found ...

Novel Bacteria Parasitizing Archaea

Feb. 10, 2025 — Researchers have succeeded in cultivating an ultra-small bacterial strain parasitizing archaea and classified it as new species and genus of Minisyncoccus ...

New Research on Ancient Life Found in Yellowstone Hot Springs

Feb. 3, 2025 — New work offers insight into how early life adapted from a low-oxygen atmosphere to the one that exists ...

Scientists Discover Unique Microbes in Amazonian Peatlands That Could Influence Climate Change

Jan. 24, 2025 — Researchers have identified an unknown family of microbes uniquely adapted to the waterlogged, low-oxygen conditions of tropical peatlands in Peru's northwestern Amazonian rainforest. The new ...

Sophisticated Early Warning System: How Bacteria Respond to Threats

Jan. 16, 2025 — Researchers have discovered that bacteria can sense threats in advance through a general danger signal. Bacteria detect when nearby cells are dying and proactively form a protective biofilm. ...

New Study Provides Insight Into How Some Species Thrive in Dark, Oxygen-Free Environments

Jan. 16, 2025 — A new study sheds light on how a species of foraminifera, single-celled organisms found in almost all marine habitats, thrives in a dark, oxygen-free ...

Feeding Your Good Gut Bacteria Through Fiber in Diet May Boost Body Against Infections

Jan. 10, 2025 — A new study has found that the composition of your gut microbiome helps predict how likely you are to succumb to potentially life-threatening infection with Klebsiella pneumoniae, E.coli and other ...

Some Bacteria Evolve Like Clockwork With the Seasons

Jan. 3, 2025 — Each year, most species of bacteria in a Wisconsin lake rapidly evolved, apparently in response to dramatically changing seasons, and then evolved ...

Striking New Moray Eel Discovered in Central Indo-Pacific River Mouths, Named After God of the Underworld

Dec. 31, 2024 — A new species of black, slender moray eel has chosen the road less traveled, thriving in dim and muddy river mouths, unlike most of its marine relatives. It is found across the Central Indo-Pacific, ...

Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Bacteria Hold Key to Understanding Nitrous Oxide Reduction

Dec. 12, 2024 — Scientists unearth a clue to the molecular mechanisms involved in N2O reduction by deep-sea hydrothermal vent ...

'Superman' Bacteria Offer a Sustainable Boost to Chemical Production

Dec. 11, 2024 — Industry -- particularly the pharmaceutical industry -- is deeply reliant on bacteria in their production. Now, researchers present a 'superman suit' to put on the bacteria, so that they ...

New Ocean Predator Discovered in the Atacama Trench

Dec. 9, 2024 — Characterized by darkness and intense pressure, the ocean's hadal zone seems uninhabitable, yet dozens of unique organisms call it home. Each species discovered there adds a crucial piece to the ...

Deep-Sea Marvels: How Anglerfish Defy Evolutionary Expectations

Dec. 2, 2024 — A groundbreaking study sheds light on the extraordinary evolution of anglerfish, a group of deep-sea dwellers whose bizarre adaptations have captivated scientists and the public alike. The research ...

Pandrug-Resistant Bacteria from the War in Ukraine Are Extremely Pathogenic

Nov. 25, 2024 — It has been a year ago since bacteria from war-wounded at hospitals in Ukraine were analyzed. The study showed that some of the bacteria types had total resistance to antibiotics. Now, the same ...

Study of Mountaineering Mice Sheds Light on Evolutionary Adaptation

Nov. 8, 2024 — Highland deer mice and their lowland cousins ventured on a simulated seven-week ascent to 6,000 meters. By tracking how the mice responded to cold stress and progressively lower oxygen levels, the ...

GPS System for Microorganisms Could Revolutionize Police Work

Nov. 7, 2024 — A research team developed an AI tool that traces back the most recent places you have been to. The tool acts like a satellite navigation system, but instead of guiding you to your hotel, it ...

Researchers Develop Artificial Plants That Purify Indoor Air, Generate Electricity

Nov. 5, 2024 — Scientists are repurposing their research about bacteria-powered biobatteries into a new idea for artificial plants that can feed off carbon dioxide, give off oxygen and even generate a little ...

Weddell Seals in the Antarctic Strategically Time Their Most Extreme Dives to Maximize Foraging

Oct. 29, 2024 — Weddell seals in Erebus Bay, Antarctica, may look like couch potatoes when they are resting on ice. However, these seals, which are the southernmost population of the southernmost living mammals, are ...