Bacteria are masters of survival. They can adapt to new environments. This adaptation can have surprising results. It can make bacteria stronger. But it can also make them weaker in unexpected ways. This is what happened with E. coli bacteria. They were studied over 15, 000 generations. The study looked at changes in the bacteria's RNA polymerase. This is a key part ...

In the grand scheme of things, bacteria are tough. They can survive in places that would make most other organisms cringe. One such place is an old mine heap in Tarnowskie Góry, Poland. This isn't your average backyard. It's an extreme environment, and it's here that scientists found two new types of bacteria, or Streptomyces species. These bacteria are special. The...

Understanding when bacteria first emerged on Earth is a big puzzle, mainly because bacteria fossils are rare. Scientists have found a new way to solve this puzzle by looking at ancient partnerships between bacteria and other life forms. They used genes found in mitochondria–the tiny powerhouses inside our cells that were once bacteria–to create a family tree of bacte...