Organisms

These Ticks Can Survive For Years Without Eating, And Live to Nearly 30 Years of Age

by

When it comes to longevity and surviving extended amounts of time without food, the Argas brumpti species of African tick is hard to beat, newly published research shows. Observed close-up in the lab over the course of 45 years by entomologist Julian Shepherd from Binghamton University in New York, some of these ticks have survived as … Read more

DNA Shed by Deep-Sea Organisms Reveals a Dark Abyss Teeming With Tiny Life Forms

by

Sweeping the ocean floor at hundreds of points throughout the world, researchers have revealed an astonishing diversity of microscopic life thriving in the deepest and darkest parts of our planet.   The sediment collected at each spot was analyzed for environmental DNA (eDNA), which marine animals shed as they go about their lives. While sea … Read more

Bioengineers Have Modeled The Workings of The World’s Most Basic Synthetic Life Form

by

Life is complicated. Even the smallest cells contain a mind-blowing assortment of chemical reactions that allow them to thrive in a chaotic landscape. If we want to know where to draw the line between life and bubbles of stale old organic soup, it helps to strip away the non-essential extras to expose the core components, … Read more

We May Have Seriously Underestimated How Hostile Conditions on Early Earth Were

by

Scientists have been doing some great work when it comes to peering back through billions of years to figure out what ancient Earth would have looked like, and a new study reveals that the earliest conditions on our planet were probably even more hostile than originally imagined.   In particular, researchers now think that we’ve … Read more

Mind-Blowing New Fossil Site Found in The ‘Dead’ Heart of Australia

by

The arid heart of Australia may not easily support life now, but once, many aeons ago, it was lush and teeming. What is now arid desert and dry shrub- and grasslands was once thick with dense forests, alive with life.   In one of these grasslands, in the Central Tablelands of NSW, paleontologists have found … Read more

Scientists Spot Eerily Sophisticated Patterns in ‘Simple’ Bacteria Colonies

by

Bacterial colonies can organize themselves into complex ring-like patterns which have an “intriguing similarity” to developing embryos and were thought to be unique to plants and animals, new research suggests.   Bacterial cells band together in clumps to form tightly packed colonies called biofilms that have a growing reputation for acting strangely like multicellular organisms. … Read more

Biological Activity on Earth Really Is Affected by The Gravity of The Sun And Moon

by

Those two orbs we see in the sky during the day and night have even more of an influence on the animals and plants on Earth than you might think. The gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon really does appear to affect flora and fauna activity, although the exact mechanisms by which this happens … Read more

We May Finally Know What Makes One of The World’s Largest Organisms So Tough

by

With massive webs of probing black tentacles extending for miles below the ground, the Armillaria group of fungi includes some of the largest known organisms on our planet.  An 8,500-year-old specimen of Armillaria ostoyae in Oregon covers 2,385 acres (3.7 square miles) with its mass of rhizomorph tentacles and is estimated to weigh roughly 7,500 … Read more