Over hundreds of million years of evolution, ants have come up with some pretty smart solutions to problems of agriculture, navigation and architecture. People could learn a thing or two.
The pumpkin on the right has a fungal disease known as black rot.
Matt Kasson
With the dual threats of antibiotic resistance and emerging pandemics, finding new drugs becomes even more urgent. A trove of medicines may be lying under our nose.
Fungi underpin life on Earth, but are far less well catalogued and understood than animals and plants. Three scientists call for including fungi in conservation strategies and environmental laws.
Plants communicate with the fungi on their roots, but the effects on the ecosystem of deliberately adding fungi as a fertilizer are unknown — and might be harmful.
Dehumidifiers can help if you’re clever with that you’re trying to achieve, but you should always look to solve the underlying cause. That means, where possible, improving exhaust and ventilation.
Inoculating trees with an edible fungi can produce more protein per hectare than pasture-raised beef, while reforesting, storing carbon and restoring biodiversity.
Environmental DNA is a promising tool for tracking species in freshwater ecosystems like Oregon’s Elkhorn Creek.
Greg Shine, BLM/Flickr
Rivers are among the most embattled ecosystems on Earth. Researchers are testing a new, inexpensive way to study river health by using eDNA to count the species that rivers harbor.
Penicillin originally came from a fungus, and with thousands of fungi to explore, Aotearoa New Zealand has a potential treasure trove of bacteria-killing compounds.
This is the first time researchers have calculated the amount of carbon released from the world’s decaying wood. They found insects play an enormous role.
There are more microorganisms in a teaspoon of soil than there are humans on Earth – but what are they all up to?
Multidrug-resistant Candida auris can cause serious infections among patients in hospitals and other group medical care settings.
Science Photo Library via Getty
Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Biological Sciences, Professor of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Informatics, and Director of the Vanderbilt Evolutionary Studies Initiative, Vanderbilt University