Symbiotic Organs: Extreme Intimacy with the Microbial World

All multicellular creatures interact with bacteria, but some have taken the relationship to another level with highly specialized structures that house, feed, and exploit the tiny organisms.

Symbiotic Organs: Extreme Intimacy with the Microbial World

All multicellular creatures interact with bacteria, but some have taken the relationship to another level with highly specialized structures that house, feed, and exploit the tiny organisms.

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Illustration of a Hawaiian Bobtail squid

Infographic: Symbiotic Organs Bring Hosts and Microbes Closer

Catherine Offord | Oct 3, 2022 | 2 min read

Specialized structures in plants and animals help attract and mediate communication with bacterial symbionts.

Ribbon weed meadow in Shark Bay, Western Australia

World’s Largest Organism Discovered Underwater

Andy Carstens | Jun 2, 2022 | 2 min read

Off the western Australian coast, in Shark Bay, a field of seagrass big enough to cover Washington, DC, has flourished for more than four millennia, a new study finds.

Image of the Day: Ancient Cooking

Emily Makowski | Jan 6, 2020 | 1 min read

Hunter-gatherers cooked and ate carb-rich rhizomes.