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Specimen of the Month · October 2026 For a green alga, sunlight is a way to make a living. For Vampirovibrio chlorellavorus, it is a way to have someone else make dinner. For this month’s Specimen of the Month, we’re showcasing one of the “spookier” bacteria. Vampirovibrio chlorellavorus is
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The bird that gave a field station its name Some animals are famous because they are rare. Others because they are beautiful. The Resplendent Quetzal is both, but that still does not fully explain the hold this bird has on people. A male quetzal in breeding plumage almost does not
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Aeonophiles: Can microbes live for a million years? When most non-microbiologists picture microbes, they picture disease causing bacteria: Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella, pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli, and similar organisms. These familiar microbes have helped create the impression that bacterial life moves fast. Under ideal laboratory conditions, some bacterial populations
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I'll admit it … I’ve spent most of my academic career completely ignoring all things fungi. As an anaerobic microbiologist and microbial systematist, I was perfectly content cultivating bacteria that perish upon exposure to oxygen and describing new members of the bacterial tree of life ... fungi simply weren&
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June 2026 - Magnetotactic Bacteria - The microbes with internal compasses Some organisms are impressive because they run fast, fly high, or survive terrible conditions. Magnetotactic bacteria are impressive because they build compasses inside their own cells. These bacteria produce tiny magnetic structures called magnetosomes: membrane-bound crystals of magnetic iron minerals,