Cellular & Microscopic Biology

Cellular and microscopic biology allow scientists to study cells and microorganisms. Cellular biology is the study of cells, including their structure and function. Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which include algae, bacteria, and viruses.

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While HeLa cells have been star players in medical research for decades, the woman behind them remained in the shadows for years. Discover the amazing story of Henrietta Lacks and her immortal cells in this article.

By Shanna Freeman

You won't find some of history's biggest killers on this list, but you will find at least one disease that will make you want to bite something and another that might make you break out in "elevated pustules." Curious yet?

By Garth Sundem

Viruses, viroids and prions are microscopic, infectious particles with a common, despicable goal — but the way each goes about achieving that goal is different.

By Debra Ronca

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Phone calls, e-mails, sign language, friendly shouts -- this is how we communicate in our daily lives. Bacteria, some of the tiniest organisms on Earth, have a different way of talking.

By Molly Edmonds

For something too small to be detected by an ordinary microscope, viruses pack a big punch. We all know they can wreak havoc on the body, but how do they do it?

By Molly Edmonds

Cell suicide sounds unpleasant, but this programmed cell death is the reason your fingers and toes are no longer webbed. What's the story behind apoptosis, and what does it have to do with curing disease?

By Molly Edmonds

Herd immunity means that after a certain percentage of a population is immune to a disease, the whole population is. This is usually achieved through vaccination but some are not convinced.

By Alia Hoyt & Molly Edmonds

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You've heard it on the lips of every newscaster and seen it in the pages of every newspaper and Web site: swine flu. Just how worried should we be about the 2009 version of the H1N1 virus?

By Molly Edmonds

Are you the first to complain when it's too hot or too cold at work? Extremophiles have news for you: Suck it up. These hardy microbes make most of us humans seem like whimpering Goldilocks, and studying them may tell us more than you might imagine.

By Jacob Silverman & Desiree Bowie

Biofilms form when single microorganisms attach to a hydrated surface and undergo a "lifestyle switch." But why should we care about biofilms?

By Marianne Spoon

It's all connected! Recent rodent research suggests that immune responses and social behavior may be more intertwined than we realized.

By Julia Layton

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Dust traveling over the Atlantic from North Africa feeds both phytoplankton that makes the oxygen we breath and the bacteria that could kill us.

By Jesslyn Shields

Researchers are calling for a new "Noah's Ark" to store microbes that might one day be valuable.

By Chris Opfer

Scientists have found that ancient fossilized chlorophyll was dark red and purple in its concentrated form, which means that when diluted by water or soil, it would have lent a pink cast to earth and sea.

By Laurie L. Dove

Scientists started an experiment back in 2014 that will run for 500 years. The first results were recently published. So, what have they found so far?

By Nathan Chandler

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Australia's western coast boasts such pink wonders. But what gives these lakes their pink hue?

By Tara Yarlagadda & Austin Henderson

While researchers can't say from this small study whether hairy men are inherently germier than the rest of the human race, the results are startling.

By Michelle Konstantinovsky

Niels Bohr proposed the model of the atom that we still learn in school today, even though it's technically incorrect.

By Jesslyn Shields

Your body replaces billions (with a b!) of cells every day. In about 100 days, 30 trillion be replaced, but does that mean you're a new person, too?

By Chris Opfer & Allison Troutner

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Mold is a type of fungus, and it's everywhere — indoors, outdoors and even in the air. But is black mold worse than the rest? Is it as deadly as people say?

By Melanie Radzicki McManus & Austin Henderson

Yep, fungi are all around us — in the grocery store, in the woods or living on your discolored toenail. And fungi can break down almost anything.

By Jesslyn Shields

No life, except possibly very small bacteria, would exist on Earth without photosynthesis.

By Jesslyn Shields

Chloroplasts are where some of the most miraculous chemistry on Earth goes down.

By Jesslyn Shields

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Prokaryotic cells are like single-room efficiency apartments while eukaryotic cells are like mansions with many rooms — and they are the only two kinds of cells in the world.

By Jesslyn Shields

The part of your cells that helps you recover from a hangover is shaped like a maze of tubes and is made of two parts — the rough endoplasmic reticulum and the smooth endoplasmic reticulum.

By Jesslyn Shields & Yara Simón