Archaea cultivated in the laboratory are active even at high temperatures and without oxygen. The seafloor is home to around one-third of all the microorganisms on the Earth and is inhabited even at a depth of several kilometers.

If other visual cues are missing, ants build higher nest hills to facilitate homing of foraging nest mates.

 The biochemist is honoured for his pioneering work in the field of gene transcription. Patrick Cramer shares the prestigious award in the life sciences with Eva Nogales from the University of California, Berkeley.

Researchers make visible how a nanomachine takes care of cleaning up in the cell. To keep our body's cells from overflowing with waste and to keep them healthy, the waste inside them is constantly being disposed of.

New synthetic metabolic pathways for fixation of carbon dioxide could not only help to reduce the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere, but also replace conventional chemical manufacturing processes for pharmaceuticals and active ingredients with carbon-neutral, biological processes. A new study demonstrates a process that can turn carbon dioxide into a valuable material for the biochemical industry via formic acid.

A study in Sweden shows: Many elderly people need intensive care in the year before they die. Dying is often associated with extensive health and elderly care. A recent study by Marcus Ebeling from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research and colleagues in Swenden came to this conclusion through a new way of analyzing data from the Swedish registry of the entire population.

Researchers discover that many animals have the genes to make these plant sterols. Phytosterols are good for your health, but humans and other animals are not able to make them themselves.

One thing is certain: life on Earth emerged very early in the history of planet Earth. There are few concrete answers to the questions of how and where the first organic molecules were formed. One popular theory assumes that the breeding ground for life was hydrothermal vents deep under the sea. Researchers are proposing a new plausible scenario for the origin of life on Earth: Meteorites. The iron they contain could have played a decisive role in the formation of the first building blocks of life.

Children choose a "mystery box" more often than apes, but after a glimpse of a larger reward from the uncertain option, great apes show more curiosity.

Resarchers have found new possibilities for targeting cancer genes' RNA with nature-inspired compounds.

At certain times in the year, more soot particles reach the Amazon rainforest from bush fires in Africa than from regional fires.

More soot particles reach the central Amazon rainforest from brush fires in Africa than from regional fires at some times.

Migratory locusts release a toxic substance to fend off their own conspecifics -  .

Scientists are rebuilding microbial natural products up to 100,000 years old using dental calculus of humans and Neanderthals.