Cellular & Microscopic Biology

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

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

Scientists have found microbes in Antarctica that somehow survive just on gases in the atmosphere. This could have some exciting possibilities for determining how alien life on other planets could stay alive.

By Mark Mancini

The mass of microorganisms swarming inside your favorite elite athlete's body may be a great business opportunity.

By Amanda Onion

But the artwork is just the beginning of how scientists hope to boss around engineered bacteria.

By Tracy Staedter

We've known for while that our microbiomes affect our health, but new research suggest their circadian rhythms are tightly interconnected with ours.

By Jesslyn Shields

A new study conducted on mice found a change in anxiety and aggression, and that probiotics could mediate any changes.

By Jesslyn Shields

New studies suggests your gait may be able to predict something deeper than just a temporary mood.

By Jesslyn Shields

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

By Julia Layton

With 51 days and counting until the Olympics, Rio's busy dealing with yet another crisis: the presence of super bacteria at many of the Olympic swimming holes.

By Kate Kershner

Trees? Fungus? Bacteria? It all kind of depends on how you define "alive" ... and how you define "thing," as this BrainStuff video explains.

By Laurie L. Dove

Citizen scientists collected bacteria strains to send to the International Space Station. All grew exactly the same as on Earth — except for one, which grew much faster.

By Laurie L. Dove

Giant viruses sound like something from a science fiction movie. But they're real. However, they're not as scary as you might think.

By Alia Hoyt

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

Deep in Siberia, scientists discovered a giant, amoeba-eating virus. This may sound like straight-up sci-fi, but it's actually happened a few times. Is climate change to blame for resurrecting these ancient bugs?

By Karen Kirkpatrick

Both can make you feel lousy, but there are a few important differences between the causes of bacterial and viral infections – knowing the details can help improve your health.

By Debbie Swanson

A post-antibiotic world is a scary thought. Without antibiotics to cure our infections, a public health crisis is inevitable. In the absence of new drugs, is it possible to reserve the resistance of those bacteria?

By Patrick J. Kiger

Bacteria are both friend and foe to humanity. They cause and cure health problems, make rotting food stink and give sourdough its delicious taste. Find out how these countless tiny microbes accomplish all of this and more.

By Marianne Spoon

Spend your life on your smartphone and you may be sending yourself to the sick bed. Here's a list of some of the nasty germs that could be lurking on your mobile device.

By Chris Opfer

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

You like to think of yourself as an individual. But the truth is there's a huge microbial party going inside and outside your body right now. And the folks from the Human Microbiome Project want to know what those microbes are up to.

By Kate Kershner

Worried that we're running out of effective antibiotics? Never fear. Scientists are plundering cockroach brains and other surprising sources to create new lifesaving medications.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Lots of Americans believe that getting the flu is no worse than getting a cold. Or that the flu vaccine can give them flu. We separate truth from fiction.

By Patrick J. Kiger

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

Molecular biology isn't all fun and games -- except when it is. How did a bunch of gamers handily solve a decade-old problem in three weeks flat?

By Nicholas Gerbis