Microbiology News

November 3, 2025

Top Headlines

Ancient Viruses Hidden Inside Bacteria Could Help Defeat Modern Infections

Nov. 3, 2025 — Penn State scientists uncovered an ancient bacterial defense where dormant viral DNA helps bacteria fight new viral threats. The enzyme PinQ flips bacterial genes to create protective proteins that block infection. Understanding this mechanism could ...

A New Microscopy Breakthrough Is Revealing the Oceans’ Invisible Life

Nov. 2, 2025 — A pandemic-era breakthrough has allowed scientists to literally expand our view of plankton. By using ultrastructure expansion microscopy, researchers visualized the inner workings of hundreds of marine species for the first time. The effort, tied ...

Soil Microbes Remember Drought and Help Plants Survive

Nov. 2, 2025 — Researchers discovered that soil microbes in Kansas carry drought “memories” that affect how plants grow and survive. Native plants showed stronger responses to these microbial legacies than crops like corn, hinting at co-evolution over time. ...

It Sounds Creepy, but These Scientific Breakthroughs Could Save Lives

Oct. 30, 2025 — From mini-brains to spider-inspired gloves and wolf apple coatings, scientists are turning eerie-sounding experiments into real innovations that could revolutionize health and sustainability. Lab-grown brain organoids may replace animal testing, ...

Scientists Just Found Out How Corals Rebuild Themselves on the Reef

Oct. 29, 2025 — Researchers at QUT uncovered how corals reattach to reefs through a three-phase process involving tissue transformation, anchoring, and skeleton formation. Differences among species reveal why some corals grow and attach faster than others. ...

Scientists Turn Flower Fragrance Into a Mosquito Killer

Oct. 27, 2025 — A team of researchers has developed a floral-scented fungus that tricks mosquitoes into approaching and dying. The fungus emits longifolene, a natural scent that irresistibly draws them in. It’s harmless to humans, inexpensive to produce, and ...

How This Odd-looking Animal Outsmarted Aging

Oct. 20, 2025 — Naked mole-rats seem to have found nature’s cheat code for longevity. Scientists discovered that small tweaks in one of their proteins make it better at fixing DNA damage, helping the animals resist aging. Even fruit flies with the same changes ...

Glowing Sugars Show How Microbes Eat the Ocean's Carbon

Oct. 19, 2025 — Researchers have developed a light-emitting sugar probe that exposes how marine microbes break down complex carbohydrates. The innovative fluorescent tool allows scientists to visualize when and where sugars are degraded in the ocean. This ...

Scientists Finally Read the Hidden DNA Code That Shapes Disease

Oct. 18, 2025 — EMBL researchers created SDR-seq, a next-generation tool that decodes both DNA and RNA from the same cell. It finally opens access to non-coding regions, where most disease-associated genetic variants lie. By revealing how these variants affect gene ...

Scientists Unearth a 112-million-year-old Time Capsule Filled with Ancient Insects

Oct. 11, 2025 — Researchers have unearthed South America’s first amber deposits containing ancient insects in an Ecuadorian quarry, offering a rare 112-million-year-old glimpse into life on the supercontinent ...

They’re Smaller Than Dust, but Crucial for Earth’s Climate

Oct. 10, 2025 — Coccolithophores, tiny planktonic architects of Earth’s climate, capture carbon, produce oxygen, and leave behind geological records that chronicle our planet’s history. European scientists are uniting to honor them with International ...

Scientists Discover Orchids Sprouting from Decaying Wood

Oct. 8, 2025 — Kobe University researchers found that orchids rely on wood-decaying fungi to germinate, feeding on the carbon from rotting logs. Their seedlings only grow near deadwood, forming precise fungal partnerships that mirror those seen in adult orchids ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:33pm EST

Scientists Teach Bacteria the Octopus’s Secret to Camouflage

Nov. 3, 2025 — Researchers at UC San Diego have figured out how to get bacteria to produce xanthommatin, the pigment that lets octopuses and squids camouflage. By linking the pigment’s production to bacterial ...

Scientists Stunned as Island Spider Loses Half Its Genome

Nov. 2, 2025 — On the Canary Islands, scientists discovered that the spider Dysdera tilosensis has halved its genome size in just a few million years—defying traditional evolutionary theories that predict larger, ...

Scientists Discover 14 Strange New Species Hidden in the Deep Sea

Nov. 2, 2025 — Scientists are revolutionizing how new marine species are described through the Ocean Species Discoveries initiative. Using advanced lab techniques, researchers recently unveiled 14 new species from ...

After 25 Years, Scientists Solve the Bird-Eating Bat Mystery

Nov. 2, 2025 — After decades of mystery, scientists have finally proven that Europe’s largest bat, the greater noctule, hunts and eats small songbirds mid-air—more than a kilometer above ground. Using tiny ...

2 Million-Year-Old Teeth Reveal Secrets from the Dawn of Humanity

Nov. 1, 2025 — For decades, Paranthropus robustus has intrigued scientists as a powerful, big-jawed cousin of early humans. Now, thanks to ancient protein analysis, researchers have cracked open new secrets hidden ...

Japan’s New “samurai Jellyfish” Is Simply Stunning

Nov. 1, 2025 — Scientists in Japan have discovered Physalia mikazuki, a previously unknown species of Portuguese man-of-war, in northern waters for the first time. DNA and anatomical analysis confirmed it as ...

Before Plants or Animals, Fungi Conquered Earth’s Surface

Oct. 28, 2025 — Fungi’s evolutionary roots stretch far deeper than once believed — up to 1.4 billion years ago, long before plants or animals appeared. Using advanced molecular dating and gene transfer analysis, ...

Living Computers Powered by Mushrooms

Oct. 26, 2025 — Scientists have found that mushrooms can act as organic memory devices, mimicking neural activity while consuming minimal power. The Ohio State team grew and trained shiitake fungi to perform like ...

A Hidden Temperature Law Governs All Life on Earth

Oct. 25, 2025 — In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists at Trinity College Dublin have identified a "universal thermal performance curve" that governs how all living organisms respond to temperature. This finding ...

MIT Scientists Discover Hidden 3D Genome Loops That Survive Cell Division

Oct. 24, 2025 — MIT researchers discovered that the genome’s 3D structure doesn’t vanish during cell division as previously thought. Instead, tiny loops called microcompartments remain (and even strengthen) ...

How Algae Learned to Harness the Sun Without Getting Burned

Oct. 22, 2025 — Under the sea, green algae have evolved a clever way to handle too much sunlight. Scientists found that a special pigment called siphonein acts like a natural sun shield, protecting the algae’s ...

This Tiny Worm Uses Static Electricity to Hunt Flying Insects

Oct. 15, 2025 — A parasitic worm uses static electricity to launch itself onto flying insects, a mechanism uncovered by physicists and biologists at Emory and Berkeley. By generating opposite charges, the worm and ...

Birds Around the World Share a Mysterious Warning Cry

Oct. 6, 2025 — Birds across the globe independently evolved a shared warning call against parasites, blending instinct and learning in a remarkable evolutionary pattern. The finding offers a rare glimpse into how ...

Hidden for 70 Million Years, a Tiny Fossil Fish Is Rewriting Freshwater Evolution

Oct. 4, 2025 — Researchers in Alberta uncovered a fossil fish that rewrites the evolutionary history of otophysans, which today dominate freshwater ecosystems. The new species, Acronichthys maccognoi, shows early ...

Before They Sucked Blood, Leeches Were Ocean Hunters

Oct. 1, 2025 — A 430-million-year-old fossil has rewritten leech history, showing they are at least 200 million years older than previously believed. Unlike today’s bloodsucking leeches, their ancient ancestors ...

The Billion-Year Reign of Fungi That Predated Plants and Made Earth Livable

Oct. 1, 2025 — Fungi may have shaped Earth’s landscapes long before plants appeared. By combining rare gene transfers with fossil evidence, researchers have traced fungal origins back nearly a billion years ...

Pollen Holds a Secret That Could Save Honeybees

Sep. 30, 2025 — Scientists have discovered that pollen is a hidden source of natural medicine for honeybees. Symbiotic bacteria called Streptomyces produce antimicrobial compounds that fight deadly bee and plant ...

Stunning Images Reveal How Antibiotics Shatter Bacterial Defenses

Sep. 29, 2025 — Researchers have revealed how polymyxins, crucial last-resort antibiotics, break down bacterial armor by forcing cells to overproduce and shed it. Astonishingly, the drugs only kill bacteria when ...

It’s Not Just Genes — Parents Can Pass Down Longevity Another Way

Oct. 5, 2025 — Scientists studying tiny roundworms have uncovered how the secrets of a long life can be passed from parents to their offspring — without changing DNA. The discovery shows that when certain ...

Japan’s Hot Springs Hold Clues to the Origins of Life on Earth

Oct. 2, 2025 — Billions of years ago, Earth’s atmosphere was hostile, with barely any oxygen and toxic conditions for life. Researchers from the Earth-Life Science Institute studied Japan’s iron-rich hot ...

Miscarriages, Down Syndrome, and Infertility All Linked to This Hidden DNA Process

Sep. 28, 2025 — Human fertility hinges on a delicate molecular ballet that begins even before birth. UC Davis researchers have uncovered how special protein networks safeguard chromosomes as eggs and sperm form, ...

Hidden Bacterial Molecules in the Brain Reveal New Secrets of Sleep

Sep. 25, 2025 — New studies show that a bacterial molecule, peptidoglycan, is present in the brain and fluctuates with sleep patterns. This challenges the idea that sleep is solely brain-driven, instead suggesting ...

Breakthrough Wetsuits Slash Shark Attack Injuries and Save Lives

Sep. 25, 2025 — Shark experts tested four innovative wetsuit materials to measure how well they reduce shark-bite injuries. The results show they can lessen major trauma, blood loss, and even save lives when ...

Mushrooms Evolved Psychedelics Twice, Baffling Scientists

Sep. 24, 2025 — Researchers found that magic mushrooms and fiber caps independently evolved different biochemical pathways to create psilocybin. This convergence shows nature’s ingenuity, but the reason why ...

Stressed Koalas Are Facing a Deadly Epidemic

Sep. 23, 2025 — Researchers have shown that stress and retrovirus levels are tightly linked to disease in koalas. High KoRV loads make koalas more vulnerable to chlamydia, worsening epidemics in stressed ...

The Surprising Way Metabolism Controls Embryo Growth

Sep. 21, 2025 — Metabolism does more than fuel embryos—it sets their developmental rhythm. EMBL researchers found that a sugar molecule, FBP, controls the pace of spine formation, suggesting metabolism may act as ...

Hidden Gene Trick Lets Ants Smell With Super Precision

Sep. 20, 2025 — Researchers uncovered how ants keep their powerful sense of smell clear: by using a genetic safeguard that silences surrounding receptor genes. This discovery not only solves a decades-old puzzle but ...

A Plant Compound Might Be the Secret Weapon Against Gum Disease

Sep. 30, 2025 — A team of researchers tested morin, a plant compound, against gum disease bacteria and found strong antimicrobial benefits. By encapsulating it in polymers, they created a powdered form for oral ...

Tiny Protein Pairs May Hold the Secret to Life’s Origin

Sep. 18, 2025 — A team from the University of Illinois has uncovered surprising evolutionary links between the genetic code and tiny protein fragments called dipeptides. By analyzing billions of dipeptide sequences ...

Soil Warming Experiments Challenge Assumptions About Climate Change

Sep. 17, 2025 — Heating alone won’t drive soil microbes to release more carbon dioxide — they need added carbon and nutrients to thrive. This finding challenges assumptions about how climate warming influences ...