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    Mighty microbes — the invisible forces that can save the world

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    Thinking Small and Large: How Microbes Made and Can Save Our World Peter Forbes Icon Books (2025)Our world is shaped by things we cannot see — from bacteria and greenhouse gases to artificial intelligence. Yet people tend to centre their world view around what is visible and human. In Thinking Small and Large, science writer Peter Forbes tackles this paradox with clarity, arguing that our “sapiocentrism” could prevent us from grasping the foundational importance of microorganisms.His sweeping narrative connects the molecular beginnings of life with the existential planetary crises humans now face. Microbes, the author asserts, are key to restoring our home and ensuring our survival in an era of ecological collapse.Ancient alliesForbes begins by paying homage to the classic 1926 book Microbe Hunters, in which microbiologist Paul de Kruif celebrated the early pioneers of germ theory — such as Louis Pasteur and Paul Ehrlich — who found ways to eliminate pathogens. Although revolutionary at the time, Forbes notes, the book helped to stoke a perception of microbes as synonymous with illness. This unfortunate framing might have hampered microbial research and complicated regulatory approval for microbial technologies ever since.‘Oceans are hugely complex’: modelling marine microbes is key to climate forecastsThe author goes on to turn Microbe Hunters on its head, reframing the microscopic organisms as ancient allies.When ancient microbes oxygenated the planet through photosynthesis, for example, they created an atmosphere in which aerobic life could evolve. These tiny life forms drive the planet’s biogeochemical cycles, such as carbon and nitrogen cycles, which maintain climate stability and ecosystem productivity. And they are key components of our own bodies and biology. Complex organisms, including humans, rely on the microbes that live in our guts, on our skin and elsewhere in our bodies to obtain key nutrients and protect us against disease.Forbes also celebrates the scientists who discovered how microbes helped to shape Earth. Microbiologist Lynn Margulis, for instance, revolutionized researchers’ understanding of the origins of complex life. In 1967, she proposed that mitochondria and chloroplasts — the energy-producing hubs of animal and plant cells — evolved from bacteria engulfed by cells, indicating that complex life emerged from ancient symbiotic partnerships.Tiny technologiesThe author highlights that pressing issues such as biodiversity loss, pollution and climate change are caused not just by greenhouse-gas emissions, but also by disrupted microbial balance. For example, ocean warming disrupts the symbiosis between corals and the photosynthetic algae that provide much of the corals’ energy. The result is mass coral die-offs that have put entire reef ecosystems at risk. This point is increasingly echoed by scientists.But microbial technologies could offer a path out of climate and ecological emergencies, he asserts.Incorporating bacteria into agricultural processes can cut reliance on harmful practices.Credit: Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty For instance, microbes can use tiny electrical currents to convert carbon dioxide into biofuels that can be a source of renewable energy. And some countries are reducing their dependence on synthetic fertilizers — which are energy-intensive to produce and contribute to greenhouse-gas emissions and soil and water pollution — by incorporating bacteria into agricultural processes. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria, for instance, convert inert atmospheric nitrogen into useful forms crucial for plant growth.Looking ahead, advances in genetic engineering could even enable cereal crops to permanently ‘engulf’ this bacterial capability, allowing plants to autonomously convert atmospheric nitrogen into forms that are essential for their own growth. The intricate, protein-based molecular systems behind DNA replication, photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation, which the author calls microbial nanomachines, are our secret weapon for building future societies that are both sustainable and economically resilient.Microbes can capture carbon and degrade plastic — why aren’t we using them more?

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      in Ecology

      ‘Loss and damage fund’ for climate change needs broader remit

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      The implementation of a Fund for responding to Loss and Damage at the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) raised the prospect of wealthier nations compensating the countries that are suffering the most from events related to climate change, such as droughts. But the fund’s remit should extend to financially supporting the communities most affected by disruptions to ecosystems they rely on, as a result of excess emissions of carbon dioxide.
      Competing Interests
      The authors declare no competing interests. More

    • 125 Shares69 Views

      in Ecology

      What language do bats speak? I’m trying to find out

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      “I am a conservation biologist at the Gorongosa National Park in central Mozambique, where I focus on bats and their social vocalizations. In this photo, I’m photographing a colony of fruit-eating bats (Eidolon helvum) that live in the Tunduru Botanic Garden in the capital, Maputo.As we learn about the different types of vocalization, we can understand the phases of a bat’s life better and perhaps be able to conserve species with fewer interventions than now. For instance, there are vocalizations specific to the mating season, and some species have only one reproductive season over two or three months of the year. We can better quantify and recognize that time period if we focus on the sounds bats make.There are a lot of unanswered questions. Do the male bats use vocalization to mark and defend their territory, for instance? During my master’s degree, I worked on two species: the Egyptian slit-faced bat (Nycteris thebaica) and Sundevall’s leaf-nosed bat (Hipposideros caffer). For one of them, I was able to identify 11 distinct vocalizations, and for the other, I identified 6.Our basic equipment is a bat detector, which records the ultrasound calls emitted by bats. I use specialist software, including Kaleidoscope Pro and Raven Pro, to visualize these sounds in a sonogram, which graphs sound as a wave. (Kaleidoscope even has a bat mode.) We then use frequency, duration and other harmonic details to identify the vocalizations.

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    • 100 Shares132 Views

      in Ecology

      Herring population loses migration ‘memory’ after heavy fishing

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      Download the Nature Podcast 07 May 2025In this episode:00:46 How fishing activity altered the migration pattern of HerringSelective fishing of older herring has resulted in a large shift in the migration pattern of these fish, according to new research. For years, herring have visited sites on the south coast of Norway to spawn, but in 2020 a rapid shift was seen, with the fish instead visiting areas hundreds of kilometres to the north. Researchers have concluded that too many older fish have been removed from these waters, preventing the knowledge of the best spawning grounds being passed to younger, less experienced fish. This finding shows how human activity can affect animal migration, which could have serious consequences for the delicately balanced ecosystems built around them.Research article: Slotte et al.10:37 Research HighlightsArchaeologists have identified tools that the ancient Maya may have used for tattooing, and the self-assembling stable structures that may help ‘forever chemicals’ persist in nature.Research Highlight: Tattoo-making tools used by ancient Maya revealedResearch Highlight: ‘Forever’ molecules arrange themselves into cell-like structures 13:02 How might AI companions affect users’ mental health?AI companions — apps where humans build relationships with computers — are hugely popular, with millions of people around the world using them. But despite increased social and political attention, research investigating how these systems can affect users has been lacking. We find out about the latest research in this space.News Feature: Supportive? Addictive? Abusive? How AI companions affect our mental health24:52 Briefing ChatA technique that lets researchers directly edits proteins within living cells, and how a fibre-rich, low-fat diet could help replenish populations of gut microbes ravaged by antibiotics.Nature: Powerful protein editors offer new ways of probing living cellsNature: How to fix a gut microbiome ravaged by antibioticsSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.Never miss an episode. Subscribe to the Nature Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music or your favourite podcast app. An RSS feed for the Nature Podcast is available too. More

    • 138 Shares165 Views

      in Ecology

      Trump gutted two landmark environmental reports — can researchers save them?

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      Climate change is driving more frequent bouts of extreme weather that lead to floods and other damage.Credit: Scott Olson/GettyEvery four years, the US government is supposed to release a report on how climate change is affecting the nation, to guide communities and companies on how to address and adapt to a warming planet. But the sixth edition of the National Climate Assessment — already in the works for months — was gutted earlier this week, when US President Donald Trump’s administration dismissed hundreds of scientists helping with it.‘Totally broken’: how Trump 2.0 has paralysed work at US science agencies Some researchers aren’t giving up, however. They are wondering whether they could publish it anyway, through independent channels. One of their inspirations is the National Nature Assessment, a report that Trump cancelled on his first day back in office. Last month, researchers involved with that report announced a campaign to publish it outside the governmental framework, using private funding. The report is meant to detail the importance of nature — ecosystems, biodiversity and more — on the US economy and on US health.Both reports address “the condition of the planet writ large”, says Gillian Bowser, an ecologist at Colorado State University in Fort Collins and a lead author of the nature assessment. Efforts to revive them reflect the ways in which US researchers are trying to cope with Trump’s assault on federal science. “I volunteered for this effort, and I’m ready to continue it,” says Costa Samaras, a systems engineer at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and lead author of a chapter of the climate assessment. “This is important work for the country,” adds Samaras, who worked on US energy policy under Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden. Up-to-date knowledgeBoth projects were coordinated by the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), a network of 15 federal agencies that deal with environmental issues across the US government. The reports were meant to be comprehensive syntheses of the most up-to-date scientific knowledge in the fields of climate science and ecology.Will US science survive Trump 2.0?The first National Climate Assessment was published in 2000; since then, this report, mandated by the US Congress, has come out fairly regularly. It is “the de facto understanding of what climate change means for the country”, says Nícola Ulibarrí, an environmental policy specialist at the University of California, Irvine, who contributed to the fifth edition and was slated to contribute to the sixth.Trump has called climate change a “hoax”, but during his first term as president, he approved the 2018 release of the fourth climate assessment. His team also began the process of setting up the fifth assessment, although the president’s controversial pick to lead the USGCRP — a climate-change denier — was later replaced. By contrast, Trump’s current administration moved swiftly to gut the sixth report, dubbed the NCA6. In early April, the president’s team terminated contracts with the company that provided internal staff members to coordinate the report’s production. This week, administration officials dismissed nearly 400 university and other external scientists who were working on it. Nature asked the White House the reason for the terminations, and received the same line that appeared in the scientists’ dismissal e-mail: “At this time, the scope of the NCA6 is currently being reevaluated in accordance with the Global Change Research Act of 1990.”

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    • 88 Shares161 Views

      in Ecology

      Debris from rockets is polluting the Caribbean

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      CORRESPONDENCE
      29 April 2025

      By

      Kristal K. Ambrose

      Bahamas Plastic Movement, Eleuthera, The Bahamas.

      Tony R. Walker

      Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.

      Satellites pose a growing threat to Earth’s ecosystems (R. O. Ocaya and T. D. Malevu Nature 639, 571–573; 2025). Your News Feature noted that around 11,000 satellites are now orbiting Earth, with more than 7,000 belonging to SpaceX in Hawthorne, California (Nature 639, 564–566; 2025).

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      font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, “Segoe UI”, Roboto,
      Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, “Helvetica Neue”, sans-serif;
      line-height: 19px;
      }
      .BuyBoxSection .no-price-buybox {
      display: block;
      font-size: 13px;
      line-height: 18px;
      text-align: center;
      padding-right: 10%;
      padding-left: 10%;
      padding-bottom: 20px;
      padding-top: 30px;
      color: #222;
      font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, “Segoe UI”, Roboto,
      Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, “Helvetica Neue”, sans-serif;
      }
      .BuyBoxSection .vat-buybox {
      display: block;
      margin-top: 5px;
      margin-right: 20%;
      margin-left: 20%;
      font-size: 11px;
      color: #222;
      padding-top: 10px;
      padding-bottom: 15px;
      text-align: center;
      font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, “Segoe UI”, Roboto,
      Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, “Helvetica Neue”, sans-serif;
      line-height: 17px;
      }
      .BuyBoxSection .tax-buybox {
      display: block;
      width: 100%;
      color: #222;
      padding: 20px 16px;
      text-align: center;
      font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, “Segoe UI”, Roboto,
      Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, “Helvetica Neue”, sans-serif;
      line-height: NaNpx;
      }
      .BuyBoxSection .button-container {
      display: flex;
      padding-right: 20px;
      padding-left: 20px;
      justify-content: center;
      }
      .BuyBoxSection .button-container > * {
      flex: 1px;
      }
      .BuyBoxSection .button-container > a:hover,
      .Button-505204839:hover,
      .Button-1078489254:hover,
      .Button-2737859108:hover {
      text-decoration: none;
      }
      .BuyBoxSection .btn-secondary {
      background: #fff;
      }
      .BuyBoxSection .button-asia {
      background: #069;
      border: 1px solid #069;
      border-radius: 0;
      cursor: pointer;
      display: block;
      padding: 9px;
      outline: 0;
      text-align: center;
      text-decoration: none;
      min-width: 80px;
      margin-top: 75px;
      }
      .BuyBoxSection .button-label-asia,
      .ButtonLabel-3869432492,
      .ButtonLabel-3296148077,
      .ButtonLabel-1636778223 {
      display: block;
      color: #fff;
      font-size: 17px;
      line-height: 20px;
      font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, “Segoe UI”, Roboto,
      Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, “Helvetica Neue”, sans-serif;
      text-align: center;
      text-decoration: none;
      cursor: pointer;
      }
      .Button-505204839,
      .Button-1078489254,
      .Button-2737859108 {
      background: #069;
      border: 1px solid #069;
      border-radius: 0;
      cursor: pointer;
      display: block;
      padding: 9px;
      outline: 0;
      text-align: center;
      text-decoration: none;
      min-width: 80px;
      max-width: 320px;
      margin-top: 20px;
      }
      .Button-505204839 .btn-secondary-label,
      .Button-1078489254 .btn-secondary-label,
      .Button-2737859108 .btn-secondary-label {
      color: #069;
      }
      .uList-2102244549 {
      list-style: none;
      padding: 0;
      margin: 0;
      }
      /* style specs end */

      Additional access options:

      Nature 641, 39 (2025)
      doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-01330-6

      Competing Interests
      The authors declare no competing interests.

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