Healthy land
Land has a wide variety of uses: agricultural, residential, industrial, and recreational. Microbes play a key role in the terrestrial ecosystem, providing symbiotic relationships with plants. Human use of land has led to the exhaustion of nutrients in soils, contamination of land, and a reduction in biodiversity. Applying our knowledge of microbes will be essential in restoring the biodiversity of affected ecosystems. Greater research into how microbes impact human life on land could all have a positive impact, by increasing crop production, repurposing areas of land and improving microbial biodiversity in soil, land, and water.
News
Connected habitats help wildlife fight disease, strengthen protective microbes
Maintaining connections between natural habitats may support beneficial microbes that help wildlife defend against disease. A new study found that amphibians in connected natural forests and aquatic habitats were more likely to host beneficial skin microbes that inhibit a deadly fungal pathogen.
Read story
NewsWorld-first shoe made entirely from pure mycelium unveiled at Milan Design Week
A prototype shoe made entirely from pure mycelium, the root-like network of fungi, will debut at Milan Design Week. The project is a collaboration between researcher and designer Lars Dittrich of Vrije Universiteit Brussel and head shoemaker Marie De Ryck at La Monnaie/De Munt.
NewsSome resilient fungi might survive the long voyage to Mars
Researchers recently identified fungi in samples from spacecraft-associated environments, including cleanrooms. Conidia grown from those fungi survived after exposure to simulations of the harsh conditions of Mars and space travel.
NewsViruses enhance sulfamethoxazole removal in wetlands by modulating bacteria-phage interactions
A new study examines the role of viruses in sulfamethoxazole (SMX) removal in constructed wetlands. The research demonstrates that the addition of phage-concentrated solutions (PCS) enhances the degradation of SMX by enriching SMX-degrading bacteria.
More Healthy Land
News
Scientists probe how neurons sense bacteria in the gut
Neural interaction with bacteria, e.g. in the gut microbiome, has important effects on brains of animals from worms to people. A new study investigates how neurons sense bacteria by revealing, in nematodes, the bacterial signals that a key neuron detects.
NewsEngineered dual-bacterial sensors turn chemical signals into electricity
Most bacterial information transmission is done via electricity. While electricity-emitting bacteria exist, manipulating them into useful sensors has been quite challenging. Researchers recently developed a flexible bioelectrical sensor system called electroactive co-culture sensing system.
NewsHow tiny cave shrimps grazing on microbes power the underworld of the Yucatan
Because they convert microbial growth in sinkholes beneath the Yucatan Peninsula into animal biomass, Typhlatya shrimps act as “keystone species”, introducing essential nutrients into the cave’s food web. They serve as a crucial initial link that larger subterranean predators feed on.
News To thwart pathogens, researchers are giving beneficial microbes what they really want
Researchers have developed a new method that allows precise modification of any microbiome with prebiotics, helping beneficial organisms outcompete dangerous pathogens.
NewsGraphitized biochar rewires soil microbes to accelerate pollutant breakdown in rice paddies
A new study reveals that a specially engineered form of biochar can dramatically enhance the natural ability of soil microbes to break down pollutants in rice paddies, offering a promising strategy for cleaner and more sustainable agriculture.
NewsStudy finds warmer streams may weaken river food webs
Rising stream temperatures may be weakening the foundation of river food webs by altering how carbon moves through these watery ecosystems. When water temperatures increase, microbes and aquatic insects process fallen leaves, twigs and bark more rapidly, but a smaller fraction of that leaf litter supports their growth.
NewsViruses found in Antarctic air, including some new to science
It may seem stark and lifeless, but the air around the remote sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia contains viruses, including some that are new to science. Using metagenomics, researchers discovered that South Georgia harbours a diverse and dynamic airborne viral community.
NewsFoxes and birds could be ‘early warning system’ to survey spread of antibiotic resistance into ecosystems
Wildlife monitoring could alert us to the spread of highly antibiotic resistant bacteria into unexposed ecosystems, highlighting a potential public health strategy.
NewsNovel research reveals the active role that skin cells play in rabies infection
A new study provides direct evidence that keratinocytes can support viral replication and transmit the rabies virus to neurons. The investigators offer a mechanistic explanation for how superficial skin exposures from scratches or minor bites by dogs and bats can lead to neuroinvasion.
NewsResearchers synthesize photosynthetic molecule found in bacteria
Researchers have successfully synthesized bacteriochlorophyll a, a photosynthetic pigment found in bacteria which absorbs infrared light. The work represents the first chemical synthesis of this molecule and could give scientists deeper insights into photosynthetic function and photosynthetic energy.
NewsStudy: Microbes show almost universal potential for biodegrading plastics
Researchers have identified more than 600,000 microbial proteins capable of breaking down natural and synthetic plastics, revealing a far broader biodegradation potential across microbes than previously known.
NewsFirst continent-wide map of dominant avian influenza strain explains its spread
Scientists provided the most complete view of bird flu’s spread through wild bird populations across North America, explaining how the dominant strain advanced, maintaining the risk of human infections.
NewsAfrican swine fever is quietly spreading across Nepal’s pig sector
A new study provides the first comprehensive analysis of African swine fever outbreaks in Nepal, revealing a disease that has quietly dismantled livelihoods, disrupted food security, and exposed deep gaps in the country’s animal health system — with no vaccine in sight.
NewsHow soil microbes adapt to life in lakes
Researchers have analyzed the genome of bacteria living in Lake Zurich to conclude that microbes employ two different strategies to colonize new habitats. Some acquire new traits – but others reduce the size of their genome and lose some functions in order to successfully move to a new home.
News‘Safe’ fertilizer linked to extreme water quality loss in Canadian Prairies
Research has found that widespread application of the common farm fertilizer, urea, severely degrades water quality in the Canadian Prairies. Urea added to farm ponds increased growth of algae to levels 10 times higher than seen in other damaged ecosystems, such as Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba.
NewsIn developing immunity to allergens, a little ‘dirty’ goes a long way
Exposure to diverse microbes and proteins early in life creates broad immune memory and a specific antibody that helps block allergic reactions later in life. Rather than overreacting to harmless allergens, an experienced immune system responds in a balanced way.
NewsMolecular biologist Li-Jun Ma wins 2026 Mahoney Life Sciences Prize
Li-Jun Ma has been chosen as this year’s winner of the Mahoney Life Sciences Prize for her work toward mitigating the effects of a fungal pathogen that is causing the functional extinction of the bananas most commonly found in U.S. supermarkets.
NewsFunctional traits, not phylogeny, drive gut microbial assembly in estuarine fish
By examining the gut microbiota of 61 sympatric fish species within the ecologically diverse Pearl River Estuary, researchers utilized this “natural laboratory” to disentangle complex biological drivers without the interference of geographical variation.
NewsStudy reveals hidden damage in stony corals using 3D imaging and AI
Researchers investigating how disease affects coral structure turned to X-ray microcomputed tomography which generates detailed 3D reconstructions down to microscopic pores, which reveal internal skeletal features, including porosity, thickness and structural orientation, in a non-destructive way.