Ed Yong
New antibiotic thwarts bacterial resistance
The British chemist Lesley Orgel had a rule: Evolution is cleverer than you. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have repeatedly proven him right. Since ...
Immune system hoards iron supply to fight microbes
Disease is an act of piracy. When microbes infect us, they steal our resources so they can thrive at our ...
Animals steal antibiotic genes from microbes
Life on this planet has existed for at least 3.5 billion years. For most of that time, it was microscopic ...
Contamination of DNA samples by microbes confounds
You’ve got a group of people with a mysterious disease, and you suspect that some microbe might be responsible. You ...
Little-known microbe may profoundly effect our guts
The twisting helices of DNA within our bodies influence everything from our height to our personality to risk of diseases ...
When you get jetlagged, so does your microbiome
Your genome is the same right now as it was yesterday, last week, last year, or the day you were ...
Researchers explore mysterious origins of microbes
We love origin stories. When we see successful groups of animals and plants, we wonder where they came from, and ...
Our gut microbes get fed, even when we do not
For bacteria, the mammalian gut is like Shangri-La. It’s warm and consistently so, sheltered from the environment, and regularly flooded ...
Your microbiome isn’t just in you: It’s all around you
As I type these words at my desk, I’m seeding my house with bacteria. I touch the desk, the light ...
Drug-resistant pathogens and the continuing battle against malaria
The meandering Moei river marks the natural boundary between Thailand and Myanmar. Its muddy waters are at their fullest, but ...
Female athlete teaches herself genetics, cracks her own rare disease
Kim Goodsell was running along a mountain trail when her left ankle began turning inward, unbidden. A few weeks later ...
Polio strain highlights importance of strengthening vaccine effectiveness
The cause of an unusually severe outbreak of poliomyelitis that hit Congo in 2010 has been identified: a strain of ...
Genetic empowerment: Extreme athlete probes own genetics to streamline diagnosis
When extreme athlete Kim Goodsell discovered that she had two extremely rare but ostensibly unrelated genetic diseases, she taught herself ...
Turing description of interacting molecules explains how fingers and toes form
Your arms and toes began as tiny buds that sprouted from your sides when you were just a four-week-old embryo ...
Blood test for cancer may lead to improved strategies for treatment
In 2012, Charles Swanton was forced to confront one of cancer's dirtiest tricks. When he and his team at the ...
Newly discovered virus modulates bacteria in gut, aids immune system
The most common viruses in your body don’t make you ill. Instead, they infect the legions of microbes that live in ...
Fish with a placenta? How did evolution come up with that?
With their impressive fins and stunning colours, the poeciliids—a group of small fish that includes guppies, mollies and swordtails—are understandably ...
Scientists look for ‘gerontogens’ substances that work with our genes to induce aging
Why do our bodies age at different rates? Why can some people run marathons at the age of 70 while ...
Corals and humans evolved complex mechanisms for necessary cell death
For us to live, parts of us must die. Every day, billions of our cells shrink, break up into small ...
Does our anthropocentric view of genetics keep us from scientific discovery?
We often attribute disease causing agency to microbes. But any human heath effects they have were discovered haphazardly through evolution ...
Microbial passengers of our gut and skin change as we grow
When we are born, our mothers seed us with our first bacteria. As we grow up, these microbes—the microbiota—behave like ...
Environmental exposures cause aging. We should know more about them.
Why do our bodies age at different rates? Why can some people run marathons at the age of 70, while ...
Hawaiian crickets escape parasite through gene mutations that keep them quiet
The crickets hadn’t disappeared. Marlene Zuk would go for nighttime walks and see multitudes of the insects in the light ...
Insects pass infections to their progency through sperm and eggs
The green rice leafhopper is never alone. When a female’s egg and a male’s sperm fuse into a new cell, ...
How do you study the evolution of intelligence: look to animals
There are many scientists who study the mental abilities of animals. As intelligent animals ourselves, we’re keen to learn whether ...
Investigating the microbiomes of modern hunters and gatherers
It is now abundantly clear that the microbes that live in our bodies are critical parts of our lives and ...
Hummingbirds continue rapid diversification into new species
Hummingbirds took just 22 million years to diversify from a single common ancestor into 338 tiny, colourful species. And they ...
Whole genome sequencing not ready for prime time
Once prohibitively expensive and laborious, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) is now edging its way into the clinic. The cost of the ...