A supervolcano nearly wiped out humanity 74,000 years ago, but humans did something incredible

Our gut is colonized by legions of bacteria, which supply us with essential nutrients and support our health. Among them are Akkermansia bacteria, which might be helpful in the management of conditions like obesity and diabetes.

Scientists revisiting mysterious 540-million-year-old microfossils from Brazil have overturned a major idea about early animal life. What were once thought to be trails left behind by tiny worm-like creatures are now believed to be fossilized communities of bacteria and algae — some with remarkably preserved cells and organic material still intact.

Scientists may have found a powerful new way to hunt for alien life — not by searching for specific molecules, but by looking for hidden patterns in how those molecules are organized. Researchers discovered that living systems leave behind a kind of chemical “fingerprint” in the statistical distribution of amino acids and fatty acids, one that consistently differs from nonliving chemistry.

Gases collected from boiling mineral springs in Zambia contain the chemical signature of having come directly from the Earth’s mantle, a sign of a rupture in the tectonic plates and the possible beginning of a new continental boundary