Extreme Survival News

July 7, 2024

Top Headlines

Engineers Find a Way to Protect Microbes from Extreme Conditions

July 5, 2024 — Researchers have now developed a new way to make microbes hardy enough to withstand extreme conditions such as heat and the manufacturing processes used to formulate the microbes into powders or pills for long-term ...

Researchers Identify Unique Survival Strategies Adopted by Fish in the World's Warmest Waters

July 1, 2024 — A team of researchers have identified unexpected ways coral reef fish living in the warmest waters on earth, in the Arabian Gulf, have adapted to survive extreme ...

This Desert Moss Has the Potential to Grow on Mars

June 30, 2024 — The desert moss Syntrichia caninervis is a promising candidate for Mars colonization thanks to its extreme ability to tolerate harsh conditions lethal to most life forms. The moss is well known for its ability to tolerate drought conditions, but ...

A Cold-Specialized Icefish Species Underwent Major Genetic Changes as It Migrated to Temperate Waters

Apr. 5, 2023 — Biologists have explored the genetic mechanisms underlying the transition from freezing Antarctic waters to more temperature waters by Antarctic Notothenioid ...

Latest Headlines

updated 8:36am EDT

Under Pressure: How Comb Jellies Have Adapted to Life at the Bottom of the Ocean

June 27, 2024 — Researchers have studied the cell membranes of ctenophores ('comb jellies') and found they had unique lipid structures that allow them to live under ...

Scientists Unlock Secrets of How Archaea, the Third Domain of Life, Makes Energy

June 11, 2024 — An international scientific team has redefined our understanding of archaea, a microbial ancestor to humans from two billion years ago, by showing ...

Small, but Smart: How Symbiotic Bacteria Adapt to Big Environmental Changes

June 4, 2024 — Lucinid clams, inconspicuous inhabitants of the seafloor and one of the most diverse group of animals in the ocean, rely on symbiotic bacteria for their survival. Researchers now reveal the ...

Giant Viruses Found on Greenland Ice Sheet

June 4, 2024 — Giant viruses found on the Greenland ice sheet probably regulate the growth of snow algae on the ice by infecting them. Knowing how to control these viruses could help us reduce the rate of ...

Researchers Improve Satellite Surveillance of Emperor Penguins

May 29, 2024 — New phenological and behavioral models will help scientists collect more accurate counts of emperor penguins. Emperor penguins are at the top of the food web. They are a reflection of how lower ...

Key Role of Plant-Bacteria Communication for the Assembly of a Healthy Plant Microbiome Supporting Sustainable Plant Nutrition

May 23, 2024 — In an interdisciplinary study, researchers discovered that symbiotic bacteria communicate with legume plants through specific molecules and that this ...

Researchers Find Unique Adaptations of Fungus Associated With Bee Bread

May 21, 2024 — The past attempts of honey bee researchers to inventory the fungal diversity in honey bee colonies revealed that Aspergillus flavus is frequently found in hives. In a new study, researchers have ...

Rabies Outbreaks in Costa Rica Cattle Linked to Deforestation

May 21, 2024 — Deforestation in Costa Rica raises the risk of cattle becoming infected with rabies by vampire bats, finds a new ...

Deep-Sea Sponge's 'Zero-Energy' Flow Control Could Inspire New Energy Efficient Designs

May 17, 2024 — The deep-sea Venus flower basket sponge can filter feed using only the faint ambient currents of the ocean depths, no pumping required, new research ...

Marine Bacteria Team Up to Produce a Vital Vitamin

May 8, 2024 — Two species of marine bacteria from the North Sea have established an unusual and sometimes destructive relationship to produce the important vitamin B12. The team's experiments show that the two ...

Earlier Headlines

Limited Adaptability Makes Freshwater Bacteria Vulnerable to Climate Change

May 8, 2024 — Freshwater bacteria with small genomes frequently undergo prolonged periods of adaptive stagnation. Based on genomic analyses of samples from European lakes, researchers uncovered specific ...

How Soil Microbes Survive in Harsh Desert Environments

Apr. 17, 2024 — Prolonged droughts followed by sudden bursts of rainfall -- how do desert soil bacteria manage to survive such harsh conditions? This long-debated question has now been answered by microbiologists. ...

How Tardigrades Can Survive Intense Radiation

Apr. 15, 2024 — Researchers have discovered that tardigrades -- microscopic animals famed for surviving harsh extremes -- have an unusual response to ...

Oceanographers Uncover the Vital Role of Mixing Down of Oxygen in Sustaining Deep Sea Health

Apr. 12, 2024 — Oceanographers have shown for the first time the important role of the 'mixing down' of oxygen in maintaining healthy conditions in the deep ...

Scientists Discover New Phage Resistance Mechanism in Phage-Bacterial Arms Race

Apr. 9, 2024 — Scientists describe a new mechanism impacting the phage-bacterial arms race, a nanosized epibiotic parasite, TM7x, which helps its host bacterium (a Schaalia odontolytica strain called XH001) achieve ...

Shy Sea Anemones Are More Likely to Survive Heatwaves

Apr. 4, 2024 — A study shows that sea anemones that react more slowly to change can survive a heatwave better than individuals that change their behavior ...

New Method Reveals Hidden Activity of Life Below Ground

Apr. 4, 2024 — Researchers have refined an innovative method for measuring the activity level of microbes and linking that to their individual genetic code, providing new insights into the microbial communities ...

Evolution in Action? New Study Finds Possibility of Nitrogen-Fixing Organelles

Apr. 3, 2024 — A new study finds that UCYN-A, a species of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria, may be evolving organelle-like ...

Older Trees Help to Protect an Endangered Species

Apr. 2, 2024 — The oldest trees in the forest help to prevent the disappearance of endangered species in the natural environment, according to a new study. This is the case of the wolf lichen -- threatened ...

Scientists Extract Genetic Secrets from 4,000-Year-Old Teeth to Illuminate the Impact of Changing Human Diets Over the Centuries

Mar. 27, 2024 — Researchers have recovered remarkably preserved microbiomes from two teeth dating back 4,000 years, found in an Irish limestone cave. Genetic analyses of these microbiomes reveal major changes in the ...

Secrets of the Naked Mole-Rat: New Study Reveals How Their Unique Metabolism Protects Them from Heart Attacks

Mar. 27, 2024 — This unusual, subterranean mammal with extreme longevity shows genetic adaptations to low oxygen environments which could offer opportunities for advancing other areas of physiological and medical ...

Deep Earth Electrical Grid Mystery Solved

Mar. 20, 2024 — To 'breathe' in an environment without oxygen, bacteria in the ground beneath our feet depend upon a single family of proteins to transfer excess electrons, produced during the ...

Genes Identified That Allow Bacteria to Thrive Despite Toxic Heavy Metal in Soil

Mar. 18, 2024 — Some soil bacteria can acquire sets of genes that enable them to pump the heavy metal nickel out of their systems, a study has found. This enables the bacteria to not only thrive in otherwise toxic ...

Even Inactive Smokers Are Densely Colonized by Microbial Communities

Mar. 15, 2024 — Everything is everywhere -- under certain conditions microbial communities can grow and thrive, even in places that are seemingly uninhabitable. This is the case at inactive hydrothermal vents on the ...

Protein Fragments ID Two New 'Extremophile' Microbes--and May Help Find Alien Life

Mar. 15, 2024 — Perfectly adapted microorganisms live in extreme environments from deep-sea trenches to mountaintops. Learning more about how these extremophiles survive in hostile conditions could inform scientists ...

With Discovery of Roundworms, Great Salt Lake's Imperiled Ecosystem Gets More Interesting

Mar. 13, 2024 — Biologists announce the discovery of numerous species of roundworm in the highly saline waters of Great Salt Lake, the vast terminal lake in northwestern Utah that supports millions of migratory ...

Marine Heat Waves Disrupt the Ocean Food Web in the Northeast Pacific Ocean

Mar. 13, 2024 — Marine heat waves in the northeast Pacific Ocean create ongoing and complex disruptions of the ocean food web that may benefit some species but threaten the future of many others, a new study has ...

New Deep-Sea Worm Discovered at Methane Seep Off Costa Rica

Mar. 6, 2024 — Marine biologists have discovered a new species of deep-sea worm living near a methane seep some 50 kilometers (30 miles) off the Pacific coast of Costa ...

Researchers Are First to See at-Risk Bat Flying Over Open Ocean

Feb. 29, 2024 — On a research cruise focused on marine mammals and seabirds, scientists earned an unexpected bonus: The first-ever documented sighting of a hoary bat flying over the open ...

African Great Apes Predicted to See Frequent Extreme Climate Events in the Next 30 Years

Feb. 28, 2024 — African apes are already being exposed to climate change impacts, and will experience extreme events such as wildfires, heatwaves and flooding more frequently in the next 30 years, according to a new ...