A virus that is big enough to be seen under an ordinary light microscope co-opt its host’s systems with the help of ...

In a new study, published in Cell, researchers describe a newfound mechanism for creating proteins in a giant DNA virus, comparable to a mechanism in eukaryotic cells. The finding challenges the dogma ...

In the oceans and on land, scientists are discovering rare, transitional organisms that bridge the gap between Earth’s simplest cells and today’s complex ones.

For decades, biology textbooks have drawn a firm line: viruses are not alive. They lack the machinery to reproduce on their ...

Genetic complexity of wheat has long thwarted efforts to hybridize wheat, to realize the benefits of improved yield and the combination of beneficial traits.

For anyone who relies on coffee to start their day, coffee wilt disease may be the most important disease you've never heard of. This fungal disease has repeatedly reshaped the global coffee supply ...

With the exception of infectious diseases, examination of the environmental causes of illness has been piecemeal. Gary Miller, a toxicologist at Columbia University who also addressed the meeting, ...

Is it any surprise that the ancient Romans loved cats just as much as we do?

A global atlas mapping two key gut bacteria in infants around the world has uncovered a treasure trove of bacterial strains ...

Scientists propose that eukaryotes formed when an Asgard archaeon entered into a close partnership with an alphaproteobacterium. Over time, the two organisms became permanently linked. The ...

Babies in the West commonly lack a gut microbe that is found in infants in other parts of the world, which may be due to ...

Complex cells are thought to be the result of a union between two ancient microorganisms, but scientists have long been ...