Protists are grouped together in part because they don't fit neatly into any other category of organism; they are eukaryotes, but they are not a plant, animal, or fungus. For the most part, they tend ...

Just as the human body serves as a habitat for bacteria and other microbes, diverse, tiny organisms known as protists host their own microbiomes. In new research published this week, a team led by ...

Mitochondria are very well known as the powerhouses of the cell. Generally speaking, all eukaryotes, including plants, fungi, and animals, are made of cells that contain mitochondria. These organelles ...

Pac-Man, the open-mouthed face of the most successful arcade game ever, is much more well-known than any of the one-celled organisms called protists, at least among people over 30. But the first study ...

Viruses occur in astronomic numbers everywhere on Earth, from the atmosphere to the deepest ocean. Surprisingly, considering the abundance and nutrient-richness of viruses, no organisms are known to ...

The typical human digestive tract is home to one of the densest communities of microorganisms on the planet. Bacteria dominate researchers’ attention, with the roles of other members of this ecosystem ...

Foraminifera are single-celled marine protozoa that construct and inhabit a calcium carbonate shell composed of several chambers. These chambers are usually penetrated by pores through which the ...

One of the biggest scientific challenges is the classification of the natural world, especially the protists, which are eukaryotic microorganisms. While the classification proposed by Sina Adl et al. ...

Earth is microbial: bacteria, archaea, viruses, protists and fungi are the largest store of biomass on the planet and represent nearly all of its biodiversity. They store massive genetic resources ...

To better understand a carbon sink in danger, scientists are turning to tiny organisms that have long been overlooked. The humble peat bog conjures images of a brown, soggy expanse. But it turns out ...

The most common groups of soil protists behave exactly like Pac-Man: moving through the soil matrix, gobbling up bacteria according to a new article. Pac-Man, the open-mouthed face of the most ...