Observing the effects of microbes using satellites can give us all sorts of useful information about life on Earth ... and other planets too.

Many galaxies formed fast after the Big Bang, but about half of them suddenly stopped making new stars and it looks like this is literally because they ran out of gas. And with new instruments and techniques, we are now finding lost...

Oceanographer Penny Chisholm introduces us to an amazing little being: Prochlorococcus, the most abundant photosynthetic species on the planet. A marine microbe that has existed for millions of years, Prochlorococcus wasn't discovered...

Scientists are constantly researching different ways people could potentially live on Mars. Start making your future Martian travel plans with this collection of videos about the unique challenges of putting humans on Mars.

While antibiotics have saved millions of lives, misusing them can speed up how fast bacteria evolve to resist them. And it turns out that one of the biggest hotspots for these antibiotic-resistant bacteria…is hospitals.

It may not appear very lively six feet underground, but a single teaspoon of soil contains more organisms than there are human beings on the planet. From bacteria and algae to fungi and protozoa, soils are home to one quarter of Earth's...

What gives the ocean its distinct, sometimes pungent smell? It turns out the answer is more than just dead fish or salt: it’s the scent of tons of phytoplankton being munched on!

Asteroid strikes get all the coverage, but "Medea Hypothesis" author Peter Ward argues that most of Earth's mass extinctions were caused by lowly bacteria. The culprit, a poison called hydrogen sulfide, may have an interesting...

Did you know that, despite their serene, picturesque appearance, some frozen lakes can catch fire? Why are climate scientists studying the explosive gas bubbles trapped in lake ice?

For upside-down mirrors, super hot volcanic chimneys, and neon rocks with living microorganisms, look no further than the Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California.

We're heading for a world population of 10 billion people -- but what will we all eat? Lisa Dyson rediscovered an idea developed by NASA in the 1960s for deep-space travel, and it could be a key to reinventing how we grow food.

Traveling is extremely arduous for microscopic sperm -- think of a human trying to swim in a pool made ofother humans. We can compare the journey of a sperm to that of a sperm whale by calculating the Reynolds number, a prediction of how...

If you've ever spent too much time in the sun and forgotten to put on sunscreen, you know how painful a sunburn can be. But for some animals, forgetting the sunscreen wouldn't be a problem because they can just produce their own!

Is there life on Venus? If there is, it would have to be unlike anything we’ve ever seen! New evidence means the possibility of life there is in question, but it could also mean a few other things.

Donating your blood could save someone's life. And so could donating your poop.

A new study calls the claims of fossilized brains into question, and another finds ichthyosaurs might have been bigger than our current champions, the blue whales.

Just like us, the monarch butterfly sometimes gets sick thanks to a nasty parasite. But biologist Jaap de Roode noticed something interesting about the butterflies he was studying — infected female butterflies would choose to lay their...

Rovers like Curiosity search for life on Mars using rock and soil samples, but why don't they examine liquid or frozen water?

Inspired by biological design and self-organizing systems, artist Heather Barnett co-creates with physarum polycephalum, a eukaryotic microorganism that lives in cool, moist areas. What can people learn from the semi-intelligent slime...

How is it we know so much of decomposition? The smelly truth? - Body Farms! Michael Aranda explains what happens after you die and how eventually you turn back into dust.

Astronomers have found a new celestial object, and it's moving really, really fast!

There are so many things we can do with poo! Waste is the enemy in matters of space exploration, but there are plenty of ways to use that waste to help make a mission successful.

Wood is abundant and full of energy, but outside of some insects, almost no animals eat it because the stuff it's made of is hard to break down

What if our bodies could help grow new life after we die, instead of being embalmed and buried or turned to ash? Join Katrina Spade as she discusses "recomposition" -- a system that uses the natural decomposition process to turn our...