Viruses attack nearly every living organism on Earth. To do so, they rely on highly specialized proteins that recognize and ...

In the murky waters of Ushiku-numa, a freshwater pond just northeast of Tokyo, a microscopic drama has been playing out for ...

Scientists in Japan have discovered a previously unknown giant virus, offering new insight into this enigmatic category of viruses – and possibly also into the origins of multicellular life. The virus ...

When scientists sent bacteria-infecting viruses to the International Space Station, the microbes did not behave the same way they do on Earth. In microgravity, infections still occurred, but both ...

The researchers took a “safety-first” approach. They deliberately excluded all viruses that infect humans or animals from the ...

In a quiet freshwater pond in Ibaraki Prefecture near Tokyo, researchers have pulled from the water a microscopic giant that ...

Antimicrobial resistance—when bacteria and fungi defend themselves against the drugs designed to kill them—is an urgent ...

Near-weightless conditions can mutate genes and alter the physical structures of bacteria and phages, disrupting their normal interactions in ways that could help us treat drug-resistant infections.

In the vast and often unseen world of microscopic life, a recent discovery may force scientists to rethink what it means to be alive. Nestled inside a tiny plankton cell, researchers found a ...

Scientists have discovered something intriguing in a new type of organism that actually eats viruses. The organisms, which are known as virovores, don't just eat viruses accidentally, either. These ...

The so-called “circle of life” dictates that if a living thing exists, it’s probably food for something else. Viruses, however, have historically managed to escape this unofficial rule. Although ...