Microbiology

You can thank yeast and bacteria cultivated over generations for the distinctive taste and smell of the oldest leavened bread in history

Molecular biology could have changed the mpox epidemic—and could stop future outbreaks

Giving cells an appetite for cancer could enhance treatments

Recent bacterial outbreaks from consuming cheese made from unpasteurized milk, or “raw milk,” raise questions about the safety of eating these artisanal products

Odd cell divisions could help explain why even young, healthy couples might struggle to get pregnant

Microbes that lurk in decomposing human corpses could help forensic detectives establish a person's time of death

Rod-shaped fragments of RNA called “obelisks” were discovered in gut and mouth bacteria for the first time

Recent research found a species of bacteria living in semen that’s associated with infertility and has links to the vaginal microbiome

Bacteria choose to swarm based on what happened to their great-grandparents

Popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, target metabolic pathways that gut microbes and food molecules already play a key role in regulating

The larger a cell type is, the rarer it is in the body—and vice versa—a new study shows

The genes of microbes living as deep as 1.5 kilometers below the surface reveal a split between minimalist and maximalist lifestyles