Discoveries about Bacteria

Sulfate reducing bacteria in microbial mats: Changing paradigms, new discoveries

Sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) have existed throughout much of Earth’s history and remain major contributors to carbon cycling in modern systems. Despite their importance, misconceptions about SRB are prevalent. In particular, SRB are commonly thought to lack oxygen tolerance and to exist only in anoxic environments. Through the last two decades, researchers have discovered that SRB can, in fa...

Vectors, routes and maps: new discoveries about navigation in insects.

More than a decade ago, social insects were thought by some to possess a cognitive map that allowed them to move along novel pathways between points in the environment. Subsequent experimentation, however , has established that insects navigate using vectors, snapshots and landmark-based routes, and do not use cognitive maps. Two recent papers have reported the investigation of the mechanisms t...

Brain aging: reorganizing discoveries about the aging mind.

New discoveries challenge the long-held view that aging is characterized by progressive loss and decline. Evidence for functional reorganization, compensation and effective interventions holds promise for a more optimistic view of neurocognitive status in later life. Complexities associated with assigning function to age-specific activation patterns must be considered relative to performance an...

Learning from bacteria about natural information processing.

Under natural growth conditions, bacteria live in complex hierarchical communities. To conduct complex cooperative behaviors, bacteria utilize sophisticated communication to the extent that their chemical language includes semantic and even pragmatic aspects. I describe how complex colony forms (patterns) emerge through the communication-based interplay between individual bacteria and the colon...

From the Workshop of Discoveries From the Workshop of Discoveries