Extreme Survival News

April 24, 2024

Top Headlines

How Soil Microbes Survive in Harsh Desert Environments

Apr. 17, 2024 — Prolonged droughts followed by sudden bursts of rainfall -- how do desert soil bacteria manage to survive such harsh conditions? This long-debated question has now been answered by microbiologists. The study reveals that desert soil bacteria are ...

How Tardigrades Can Survive Intense Radiation

Apr. 15, 2024 — Researchers have discovered that tardigrades -- microscopic animals famed for surviving harsh extremes -- have an unusual response to ...

Oceanographers Uncover the Vital Role of Mixing Down of Oxygen in Sustaining Deep Sea Health

Apr. 12, 2024 — Oceanographers have shown for the first time the important role of the 'mixing down' of oxygen in maintaining healthy conditions in the deep ...

Shy Sea Anemones Are More Likely to Survive Heatwaves

Apr. 4, 2024 — A study shows that sea anemones that react more slowly to change can survive a heatwave better than individuals that change their behavior ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:53pm EDT

New Method Reveals Hidden Activity of Life Below Ground

Apr. 1, 2024 — Researchers have refined an innovative method for measuring the activity level of microbes and linking that to their individual genetic code, providing new insights into the microbial communities ...

Evolution in Action? New Study Finds Possibility of Nitrogen-Fixing Organelles

Apr. 3, 2024 — A new study finds that UCYN-A, a species of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria, may be evolving organelle-like ...

Older Trees Help to Protect an Endangered Species

Apr. 2, 2024 — The oldest trees in the forest help to prevent the disappearance of endangered species in the natural environment, according to a new study. This is the case of the wolf lichen -- threatened ...

Secrets of the Naked Mole-Rat: New Study Reveals How Their Unique Metabolism Protects Them from Heart Attacks

Mar. 27, 2024 — This unusual, subterranean mammal with extreme longevity shows genetic adaptations to low oxygen environments which could offer opportunities for ...

Scientists Extract Genetic Secrets from 4,000-Year-Old Teeth to Illuminate the Impact of Changing Human Diets Over the Centuries

Mar. 27, 2024 — Researchers have recovered remarkably preserved microbiomes from two teeth dating back 4,000 years, found in an Irish limestone cave. Genetic ...

Deep Earth Electrical Grid Mystery Solved

Mar. 20, 2024 — To 'breathe' in an environment without oxygen, bacteria in the ground beneath our feet depend upon a single family of proteins to transfer excess electrons, produced during the 'burning' of ...

Genes Identified That Allow Bacteria to Thrive Despite Toxic Heavy Metal in Soil

Mar. 18, 2024 — Some soil bacteria can acquire sets of genes that enable them to pump the heavy metal nickel out of their systems, a study has found. This enables ...

Protein Fragments ID Two New 'Extremophile' Microbes--and May Help Find Alien Life

Mar. 15, 2024 — Perfectly adapted microorganisms live in extreme environments from deep-sea trenches to mountaintops. Learning more about how these extremophiles ...

Even Inactive Smokers Are Densely Colonized by Microbial Communities

Mar. 15, 2024 — Everything is everywhere -- under certain conditions microbial communities can grow and thrive, even in places that are seemingly uninhabitable. This is the case at inactive hydrothermal vents on the ...

With Discovery of Roundworms, Great Salt Lake's Imperiled Ecosystem Gets More Interesting

Mar. 13, 2024 — Biologists announce the discovery of numerous species of roundworm in the highly saline waters of Great Salt Lake, the vast terminal lake in ...

Marine Heat Waves Disrupt the Ocean Food Web in the Northeast Pacific Ocean

Mar. 13, 2024 — Marine heat waves in the northeast Pacific Ocean create ongoing and complex disruptions of the ocean food web that may benefit some species but threaten the future of many others, a new study has ...

New Deep-Sea Worm Discovered at Methane Seep Off Costa Rica

Mar. 6, 2024 — Marine biologists have discovered a new species of deep-sea worm living near a methane seep some 50 kilometers (30 miles) off the Pacific coast of Costa ...

Researchers Are First to See at-Risk Bat Flying Over Open Ocean

Feb. 29, 2024 — On a research cruise focused on marine mammals and seabirds, scientists earned an unexpected bonus: The first-ever documented sighting of a hoary bat flying over the open ...

African Great Apes Predicted to See Frequent Extreme Climate Events in the Next 30 Years

Feb. 28, 2024 — African apes are already being exposed to climate change impacts, and will experience extreme events such as wildfires, heatwaves and flooding more frequently in the next 30 years, according to a new ...

Unlocking the Energetic Secrets of Collective Animal Movement: How Group Behavior Reduces Energy Costs in Fish

Feb. 20, 2024 — Researchers questioned if coordinated group movements by animals moving through a fluid could reduce the energy cost of locomotion. By combining biomechanics and bioenergetics the researchers found ...

Decline in Microbial Genetic Richness in the Western Arctic Ocean

Feb. 20, 2024 — Researchers analyzed archival samples of bacteria and archaea populations taken from the Beaufort Sea, bordering northwest Canada and Alaska. The samples were collected between 2004 and 2012, a ...

Photosynthetic Mechanism of Purple Sulfur Bacterium Adapted to Low-Calcium Environments

Feb. 20, 2024 — Purple sulfur bacteria (PSB) convert light energy into chemical energy through photosynthesis. Interestingly, certain species can photosynthesize even in environments with low-calcium levels. Using ...

Do Sugar-Free Candy and Gum Give You Gas? Researchers Think They Know Why

Feb. 15, 2024 — Scientists may have figured out why some people have trouble digesting sorbitol, a sugar alcohol used in sugar-free gum, mints, candy and other ...

When It Comes to Bad Breath, Some Bacterial Interactions Really Stink

Feb. 15, 2024 — Researchers found that the oral bacterium Streptococcus gordonii activates another bacterial species, Fusobacterium nucleatum, to produce large quantities of methyl mercaptan, a compound responsible ...

Researchers Uncover a Key Link in Legume Plant-Bacteria Symbiosis

Feb. 13, 2024 — Researchers have unveiled a groundbreaking discovery shedding light on the intricate play between legume plants and nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Their study details the crucial role played by ...

How Kelp Forests Persisted Through the Large 2014-2016 Pacific Marine Heatwave

Feb. 6, 2024 — New research reveals that denser, and more sheltered, kelp forests can withstand serious stressors amid warming ocean ...

How Leafcutter Ants Cultivate a Fungal Garden to Degrade Plants and Provide Insights Into Future Biofuels

Feb. 1, 2024 — Scientists developed a new method to map exactly how a fungus works with leafcutter ants in a complex microbial community to degrade plant material at the molecular level. The team's insights ...

Researchers Control Biofilm Formation Using Optical Traps

Jan. 29, 2024 — Researchers showed that biofilm formation can be controlled with laser light in the form of optical traps. The findings could allow scientists to harness biofilms for various bioengineering ...

Unexpected Biodiversity on the Ocean Floor

Jan. 25, 2024 — Hydrothermal vents and manganese nodule fields in the deep oceans contain more biodiversity than ...

Ancient Brown Bear Genomes Sheds Light on Ice Age Losses and Survival

Jan. 24, 2024 — The brown bear is one of the largest living terrestrial carnivores, and is widely distributed across the Northern Hemisphere. Unlike many other large carnivores that went extinct at the end of the ...

Translating Nuclear Waste Site Data Into Microbial Ecosystem Insights

Jan. 18, 2024 — A flagship seven-year study that explores how environmental stresses influence different ecological processes shaping the composition and structure of microbial communities in groundwater has now ...

Study Uncovers Potential Origins of Life in Ancient Hot Springs

Jan. 12, 2024 — A research team investigated how the emergence of the first living systems from inert geological materials happened on the Earth, more than 3.5 billion years ago. Scientists found that by mixing ...

New Insights Into What Helps Salmonella Cause Infections

Jan. 13, 2024 — In a new study, researchers have discovered how a system of proteins, called TamAB, helps Salmonella survive under the harsh conditions inside ...

Oldest Known Fossilized Skin Is 21 Million Years Older Than Previous Examples

Jan. 11, 2024 — Researchers have identified a 3D fragment of fossilized skin that is at least 21 million years than previously described skin fossils. The skin, which belonged to an early species of Paleozoic ...

The Surprisingly Resourceful Ways Bacteria Thrive in the Human Gut

Jan. 4, 2024 — New research shows that some groups of bacteria in the gut are amazingly resourceful, with a large repertoire of genes that help them generate energy for themselves and potentially influence human ...