Microbes emit nitrogen oxides—perhaps more than you think

Microbes emit nitrogen oxides, or NOx. This is important because it involves surface-earth nitrogen (N) cycle, which strongly interacts with environmental quality, food production, biosphere and climate changes. A study led ...

Did our ancestors have better microbiomes? For maize, maybe!

At today's backyard barbeques, we enjoy corn on the cob with hundreds of sweet juicy kernels. But if we were eating teosinte, the wild ancestor of corn, we would be lucky to enjoy a dozen kernels per ear. In fact, many of ...

Microbes produce oxygen in the dark

There is more going on in the deep, dark ocean waters than you may think: Uncountable numbers of invisible microorganisms go about their daily lives in the water columns, and now researchers have discovered that some of them ...

Small 'snowflakes' in the sea play a big role

In the deep waters that underlie the productive zones of the ocean, there is a constant rain of organic material called "marine snow." Marine snow does not only look like real snow but also behaves similarly: Large flakes ...

How grasslands respond to climate change

"Based on field experiments with increased carbon dioxide concentration, artificial warming, and modified water supply, scientists understand quite well how future climate change will affect grassland vegetation. Such knowledge ...

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