bacteriophages-and-microbial-interactions

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a condition characterized by abdominal pain, bloating and changes in bowel movements, estimated to affect between 10% and 15% of people worldwide. Past studies suggest that in many cases this condition is accompanied by anxiety, an emotional state marked by worry, fear and/or overthinking about specific life events. While IBS […]

You’ve likely heard it since childhood: Don’t scratch that bug bite or rash, you’ll make it worse. But why would something that feels so good be bad? A lot of things can cause itchiness, sometimes serious diseases. Whatever the cause, doctors have long warned that scratching too much can damage the skin. Now researchers better […]

Key points - GLP-1 drugs are widely known for their weight-loss effects, but they may also have antidepressant properties. - When tested on mice in a recent study, GLP-1 drugs led to weight loss and reversed depression-like behavior. - The effect disappeared in germ-free mice, indicating that gut microbes play a key role. - The effect was found to be dependent on a particular microbe that produce…

In a study published in Nature today1, researchers report a ‘megacluster’ of genes in Streptomyces bacteria that target a key metabolic process in bacteria. Streptomyces is one of the most studied bacterial genera and produces many antibiotic compounds, including those used to produce streptomycin, the first effective antibiotic against tuberculosis. “They’ve discovered something new in […]

For decades, people across the world have reported a mysterious “Hum” with no clear source. A new study suggests the answer may lie not in the environment, but inside the human system.

Researchers propose turning a future NASA moon base into a quarantine station that would screen space samples before they ever reach Earth. A policy paper argues that NASA’s planned moon base should include a biocontainment facility to help protect Earth from potentially hazardous biological contaminants brought back from space. “Humanity is entering a new era [...]

How microbiome research is moving from discovery to impact What if the key to understanding diseases like cancer, Parkinson’s, or even depression lies not just in our own cells, but in the trillions of microbes that live within and around us? On World Microbiome Day, let’s look at how the microbiome has rapidly grown into one of the most exciting frontiers in life sciences. As scientists, includi…

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 26 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41561-026-02014-0 By quantifying carbon fixation in obligate heterotrophic bacteria across the global ocean, we show that about 20% of dark dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) fixation arises from anaplerotic processes — reaching up to almost half of dark DIC fixation in some regions or conditions.

Bacteria can pass proteins between themselves, which induces a dormant state that helps a small group of them survive antibiotics, revealing a path to better antibiotics.

Scientists exploring ancient seafloor rocks in Morocco discovered mysterious wrinkle patterns where they were never expected to occur. These structures are normally linked to microbial mats in shallow, sunlit waters, yet the rocks formed hundreds of feet below the surface in darkness. Evidence indicates that chemosynthetic microbes created the wrinkles, revealing that deep-ocean microbial ecosyst…

Salmonella, an infection that causes diarrhea, fever, and abdominal pain, is the most common form of bacterial food poisoning in the U.S., sickening more than a million people each year.

BackgroundDiarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder with complex and incompletely understood pathophysiology. This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic effects and underlying mechanisms of abdominal massage on diarrhea-predominant IBS-D using a rat model.MethodsIBS-D was induced in Sprague–Dawley rats through a combination of mate…

Live Science spoke with Colin Domnauer, a PhD student in ethnobiology whose unraveling of a mushroom mystery could reveal a new hallucinogenic compound.

Sanitary environments that undergo frequent cleaning and disinfection may harbor microbial communities with potential health risks. While biofilms in healthcare settings are well studied, comparatively less is known about sink-drain microbiomes in public and educational buildings, where hundreds of people may interact with shared sink fixtures. This study characterized the spatial and temporal he…

The gut microbiome plays an important role in inflammatory bowel disease. In the research project MikrobiomProCheck, researchers are investigating how microbiome data can in future be used for diagnostics, disease monitoring and personalized therapies.

A Monash University-led study has found that an unusual pairing of two commonly used antibiotics can kill and stop the spread of resistance in a highly drug-resistant bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can cause life-threatening bloodstream infections, pneumonia and meningitis. Published in The Lancet Microbe, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) researchers used a validated l…

The enormous deep-sea cousins of your garden’s pill bugs can go five years without food. A gene they pilfered from bacteria may be part of the secret.