Learn how plastic pollution is creating new pathways for antibiotic resistance to become an even bigger public health threat.

Microbiologists have long known that ancient, inactive viruses known as cryptic prophages can insert their genetic material into bacterial DNA. These genetic fragments allow bacteria to use ...

The discovery of giant viruses has changed what we thought we knew about microbes. Researchers have now learned more about giant viruses that can infect bacterial cells, so-called jumbo phages.

H5N1 avian influenza is highly pathogenic and has been devastating bird populations worldwide. It continues to do so, and is also moving into new animals, like skunks, bears, raccoons, cats, and dairy ...

Lurking in the vast expanse of the ocean and buried deep in the Siberian permafrost, there are giants—not blue whales and ...

Diverse viruses can be found commingling with human and bacteria cells in and on people’s bodies. Scientists are just beginning to understand how these viruses help and when they can turn pathogenic.

University of Delaware undergraduate student Spencer Toth was always interested in the environment and biology, so when she arrived at UD and realized that she could combine both of her passions by ...

Viruses constantly emerge and evolve, with some posing significant threats to human and animal health, while others remain confined to specific species. A recently identified example of the latter is ...

Plastics entering natural environments quickly become coated with microbial biofilms called the 'plastisphere', known to be ...

The mosquito-borne Zika virus hijacks a host protein called ANKLE2 to support its own reproduction. ANKLE2 is involved in brain development in the fetus and because Zika can cross the placenta and ...

Researchers identify the first known instance of one virus attaching to another with stunning clarity in transmission electron microscopy images. Universities around the world run investigative ...