World’s largest sponge discovered in deep sea is as big as a car
We use them to lather and exfoliate while bathing, but the largest of these marine animals wouldn't fit in a bathtub - or even a Jacuzzi
Treating cows with antibiotics doubles dung methane emissions
Antibiotic-treated cows are bad news for climate and possibly ecosystems, because the drugs play havoc with microbes living inside dung beetles
Absurd Creatures: Three-Foot-Wide Crab Will Eat Your Soul and Maybe Also Kittens
Gut bacteria influence the birth of new brain cells in mice
Wiping out a mouse's gut bacteria with a long course of antibiotics hinders the growth of new brain cells – but exercise and probiotics can reverse this
Cancel the Olympic Games in Brazil because of Zika? No way
It is fear of the Zika virus, not its true threat, that is causing some people to call for the Olympics to be pulled from Brazil, says Marc Siegel
Absurd Creatures: The Vicious Fish With a Strike Like You Wouldn’t Believe
Building blocks of life’s first self-replicator recreated in lab
RNA molecules are thought to be some of the earliest self-replicators that led to life. Now their building blocks have been made to self-assemble in a lab
Got dandruff? The bacteria living on your head might be to blame
Until now, we’ve been blaming a fungus, but it turns out that too much Staphylococcus in your scalp’s ecosystem could be the cause of flaky dead skin
Super-salty Turkish lakes may hold key to spotting life on Mars
A new survey of extreme microbes living in salty and alkaline lakes could yield "fingerprints" that help detect the biological origin of rocks on Mars
Absurd Creatures: Hail Hydra, the Incredible, Maybe-Immortal Animal
