The genomes of phages—viruses that infect bacteria—are largely composed of "dark matter": genes that encode proteins whose functions remain unknown. Less than four years ago, a team led by Prof. Rotem ...

Around 200 million animals are used in lab research around the world each year. Organoids may one day replace them.

A new wearable device reveals how often people actually fart.

Scientists at MIT have discovered that a little-known protein called intelectin-2 plays a powerful double role in defending the gut. The protein strengthens the mucus layer that lines the ...

Researchers find that a gut bacterium may influence muscle strength and fitness, opening the door to probiotics that support ...

Bacteria and the viruses that infect them are perpetually at war. Their deadly clashes push both kinds of microbes to evolve ...

The gut rarely gets the attention the heart or brain receives. Yet it quietly controls digestion, immunity, metabolism, and ...

A study in mice concluded that memory problems associated with age may be driven by our gut microbiome and that the vagus ...

Antibiotic resistance is usually treated as a simple yes-or-no problem. A bacterium either survives a drug or it doesn’t. But new research suggests the story may be more complicated. Scientists have ...

The experiment began with a straightforward prediction: microbes from older mice would age young ovaries. But when the ...

For an oyster, creating an internal environment for calcification that forms its distinctive hard shell is essential. But new Harvard research has found that these bivalves may outsource the work, ...

When the digestive system fails to absorb fructose, the lingering sugar disrupts the gut microbiome. A recent study reveals this bacterial shift sparks low-grade, body-wide inflammation that can alter ...