It's not just horizontal gene transfer that can obscure evolutionary history. Scientists have found bacteria recycling fragmented DNA from long-dead organisms. The impact on evolutionary theory could be substantial.
A humble, rare ant might help humans learn how to communicate better with networks. It's just one of many ways nature is inspiring technology that approaches perfection.
As scientists continue to find incredible diversity in the smallest of organisms, realizations of all we've been missing are changing conceptions of life.
It should be well known by now that we are surrounded by bacteria, mostly benign, all the time -- inside and out. Some reporters still attempt to gross out the public and make misleading statements from scientific findings.