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Microorganism

A microorganism or microbe is an organism that is so small that it is microscopic (invisible to the naked eye).

Note: The above text is excerpted from the Wikipedia article "Microorganism", which has been released under the GNU Free Documentation License.

For more information, see the following related content on ScienceDaily:

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Seeds Transfer Their Microbes to the Next Generation

Jan. 21, 2021 — Scientists have been pondering if the microbiome of plants is due to nature or nurture. Research showed that oak acorns contain a large diversity of microbes, and that oak seedlings inherit their ...

Starved Yeast Poisons Clones

Nov. 7, 2022 — Yeast is not the simple single-celled microorganism we once thought, but a competitive killer. When starved of glucose, yeast releases a toxin that will poison other microorganisms that have entered ...

Immense Diversity and Interdependence in High Temp Deep-Sea Microorganism Communities

Jan. 23, 2023 — A new study finds that microorganisms live in richly diverse and interdependent communities in high-temperature geothermal environments in the deep sea. By constructing genomes of 3,635 Bacteria and ...

The Mystery of Phosphite -- A Scientific Detective Story

Nov. 10, 2023 — Biologists have discovered a phosphorus-based bacterial metabolism that is both new and ancient. In a special role: a calculation from the 1980s, a sewage plant, a new bacterial organism, and a ...

Life in Earth's Interior as Productive as in Some Ocean Waters

June 29, 2022 — Microorganisms in aquifers deep below the earth's surface produce similar amounts of biomass as those in some marine waters. Applying a unique, ultra-sensitive measurement method using ...

Soil Microorganism Provides Clues Into the Breakdown of Natural Red Dye

Oct. 5, 2021 — Researchers isolated a soil microorganism that initiates the breakdown of a popular natural red dye via a newly discovered enzyme, providing insight into how this chemical reaction occurs in ...

A Friend, Not Foe: Parasite in Gastrointestinal System Found to Promote Health

Apr. 25, 2022 — Researchers have demonstrated that a gut parasite suppresses inflammation and improves the health of the gastrointestinal ...

Bacteria Generate Electricity from Methane

Apr. 12, 2022 — Generating power while purifying the environment of greenhouse gases should be achievable using bacteria. Microbiologists have demonstrated that it is possible to make methane-consuming bacteria ...

Breaking Nitrogen While Generating Methane

Nov. 22, 2022 — Scientists have successfully enhanced cultivation of a microorganism that can fix nitrogen (N2) while producing methane (CH4) and ammonia (NH3) and investigated exciting details of its ...

Researchers Begin to Unravel the Mysteries of Kombucha Fermentation

July 14, 2021 — Scientists are beginning to unravel the key microorganisms that contribute to the fermentation of kombucha, research that is already aiding large-scale kombucha producers in the fast-growing ...

Plants & Animals News

December 6, 2023

Mice Pass the Mirror Test, a Classic Indicator of Self-Recognition

Dec. 5, 2023 — Researchers report that mice display behavior that resembles self-recognition when they see themselves in the mirror. When the researchers marked the foreheads of black-furred mice with a spot of white ink, the mice spent more time grooming their ...

More Than a Meteorite: New Clues About the Demise of Dinosaurs

Dec. 4, 2023 — What wiped out the dinosaurs? A meteorite plummeting to Earth is only part of the story, a new study suggests. Climate change triggered by massive volcanic eruptions may have ultimately set the stage for the dinosaur extinction, challenging the ...

Twin Research Indicates That a Vegan Diet Improves Cardiovascular Health

Nov. 30, 2023 — A recent trial of identical twins comparing vegan and omnivore diets found that a vegan diet improves overall cardiovascular ...

Brittle Stars Can Learn Just Fine -- Even Without a Brain

Nov. 29, 2023 — We humans are fixated on big brains as a proxy for smarts. But headless animals called brittle stars have no brains at all and still manage to learn through experience, new research reveals. These shy marine creatures have no brain to speak of -- ...

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Artificial Light Is Luring Birds to Cities and Sometimes to Their Deaths

Dec. 4, 2023 — Scientists used weather radar data to map bird stopover density in the United States and found that artificial light is a top indicator of where birds will land. City lights lure birds into what can ...

Scientists Navigate Uncharted Waters in Fish Immunology Research

Dec. 1, 2023 — Upon infection or immunization, all jawed vertebrate species generate proteins called antibodies that bind and neutralize pathogens. Strong and long-lasting antibody responses in warm-blooded species ...

Fungus-Fighting Protein Could Help Overcome Severe Autoimmune Disease and Cancer

Dec. 6, 2023 — A protein in the immune system programmed to protect the body from fungal infections is also responsible for exacerbating the severity of certain ...

Feathered Friends Can Become Unlikely Helpers for Tropical Coral Reefs Facing Climate Change Threat

Dec. 6, 2023 — Tropical coral reefs are among our most spectacular ecosystems, yet a rapidly warming planet threatens the future survival of many reefs. However, ...

Greenhouse Gases in Oceans Are Altered by Climate Change Impact on Microbes

Dec. 6, 2023 — The ocean is a global life-support system, and climate change causes such as ocean warming, acidification, deoxygenation, and nitrogen-deposition alter the delicate microbial population in oceans. ...

Grinding Coffee With a Splash of Water Reduces Static Electricity and Makes More Consistent and Intense Espresso

Dec. 6, 2023 — The fracturing and friction of coffee beans during grinding generates electricity that causes coffee particles to clump together and stick to the ...

Pregnant Women Are Missing Vital Nutrients Needed for Them and Their Babies

Dec. 5, 2023 — Pregnant women eating modern diets are missing key nutrients needed for them and their babies, and this could get worse with the move to plant-based foods. Scientists surveying more than 1,700 women ...

Enhanced AI Tracks Neurons in Moving Animals

Dec. 5, 2023 — Scientists have developed a pioneering new method that uses deep learning and a new technique called 'targeted augmentation' to track neurons in moving and deforming ...

Plant Nurseries Are Exacerbating the Climate-Driven Spread of 80% of Invasive Species

Dec. 5, 2023 — Researchers have provided detailed maps of how 144 common invasive plants species will react to 2° Celsius of climate change in the eastern U.S., as ...

Reverse Metabolomics: New Method Finds Biomarker for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Dec. 5, 2023 — Scientists' debut 'reverse metabolomics,' a groundbreaking approach to advancing microbiome research. They use the technique to discover hundreds of ...