An improbable microbe, first found living 3.3 kilometres below South Africa, has been glimpsed half a world away in California. Candidatus Desulforudis audaxviator lives in water-filled fractures in South Africa’s deep gold mines, isolated from every other life form on Earth. So how did it arrive in the western US? Image: NASA
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Billions of years ago, a tiny cyanobacterium cracked open a water molecule – and let loose a poison that wrought death and destruction on an epic scale. Now, for the first time, geologists have found evidence of the crucial evolutionary stage just before photosynthesising cyanobacteria split water and began generating oxygen – the moment that made the modern world. Image: Specious Reasons
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Tug of war could well be the oldest game in the world. Cells use it during division to tear themselves apart – each side of the cell planting two tiny “feet” on the ground to gain traction. Now researchers have measured the tiny forces involved when an amoeba plays the game. Image: oceandesetoiles
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Male pipefish pregnancy may suit the females, but it’s a real boon for their offspring’s immune system. Prior to birth, most offspring learn how to cope with infections from exposure to their mother’s antibodies. Sperm are too small to carry antibodies, so males aren’t thought to contribute – except in the case of pipefish and seahorses. Image: Stephen Childs
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Around 500 years ago, Leonardo da Vinci briefly focused his attention on fossils – and triggered a mystery that remains unsolved. He sketched a honeycomb-like array of hexagons, the first recorded observation of the trace fossil Paleodictyon. New fossils could explain why we have never found the animal that makes Paleodictyon – and extend the fossil record of parental care. Image: mdwombat
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