by Elio — There are bacteria that have small magnets within them. Magnetotactic bacteria. The magnets consist of iron-containing crystals lined up in a row along the long axis of the cells, which endows the cells with the equivalent of a magnetic needle. These bacteria thus can sense the earth's magnetic field, which...
Despite recent findings that some archaea may participate in oral disease, the question about their general absence from the Pantheon of Pathogens is still around. Any new ideas as...
by Elio — Some marine animals — clams, flatworms, and hydras — have green body parts although that is not their true color. Rather, they look green because they have ingested microscopic algae. Inside the animals, the algae act as photosynthetic symbionts, tiny gardens that provide their host with products of their...
With the buzz created by the discovery of giant viruses, e.g., Mimivirus, the distinction between viruses and cells is said to get blurred. I maintain that this is not the case because the single most important distinction is that viruses lose...
by Elio — Certain marine ciliates use devices worthy of James Bond. Or so it looks like. These creatures carry bacterial ectosymbionts belonging to the Verrucomicrobia that have extraordinary attributes. Before revealing what this is...
In a recent essay in Nature, Margaret McFall-Ngai posits that with regards to intracellular bacteria, "Although widespread among invertebrates, such associations seem to be absent from vertebrates." Can you...
