One morning, biologist Leah Bushin checked on a flask of bacteria and noticed something unusual: the liquid had turned a deep maroon. The microbes had produced xanthommatin, a natural pigment that, ...

At sea, biologists discovered microbial partners that together produce nitrogen, a nutrient essential for life. The pair are in the process of merging into a single organism. Nitrogen is fundamental ...

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their ...

These organisms, named Prototaxites, lived around 420 million to 375 million years ago during the Devonian period and resembled branchless, cylindrical tree trunks. These organisms would have been ...