Term Fellowship News Today

Why do stressed bats shed more viruses? How do some key species engineer whole landscapes? How do humans and animals work in groups to solve problems, shape behavior? 

The ability of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), a serious respiratory infection, to form snake-like cords was first noted nearly 80 years ago. In a study published October 20 in the journal Cell, investigators report the biophysical mechanisms by which these cords form and demonstrate how several generations of dividing bacteria hang together to create these structures that enable resistance to antibiotics.

Boston MA (SPX) May 12, 2023 - Throughout the ocean, billions upon billions of plant-like microbes make up an invisible floating forest. As they drift, the tiny organisms use sunlight to suck up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

Without Prochlorococcus in the open ocean sequestering huge amounts of carbon, “we would be looking at a very different planet,” Rogier Braakman says. New research suggests the microbe’s ancient coastal ancestors colonized the ocean by rafting out on chitin particles.