Articles for tag: biodiversity, Biofuels, biotechnology, Ecosystem, Microbial Life

a close up of an orange and blue substance

Tiny Titans: The Microorganisms That Can Save Our World

Jan Otte

People have ignored the most powerful forces that shape our world for hundreds of years because they can’t be seen. Microorganisms, which are too small to see, have been quietly controlling our climate, feeding our soils, and even changing the course of human evolution. Scientists are now looking to these tiny friends for answers as ...

A female scientist in protective gear examines samples through a microscope in a laboratory setting.

NASA Newly Discovered Cleanroom Microbes Could Survive Space and Revolutionize Earth

Jan Otte

Far in NASA’s super-sterile cleanrooms where spacecraft are assembled carefully to not infect other planets, researchers have made a staggering discovery: 26 new, undiscovered species of bacteria flourishing where nearly everything should perish. The microbes, impervious to extreme forms of sterilization, hold genetic information that might re-engineer biotechnology, medicine, and even our definition of life ...