OIL-EATING bacteria, useful in cleaning up slicks, will soon have water wings, helping to keep them afloat in water. Using gene-splicing techniques, researchers at the University of Massachusetts,

THE WORLD'S first full-scale experiment to clean up municipal sewage with a reactor full of algae has recently started near Nottingham in the UK (New Scientist, Vol 140, No 1893). The reactor or

Using microorganisms to treat pollutants is a cheap eco friendly way of disposing waste, which is fast catching on.

A new study suggests that the more the number of hosts a parasite feeds on, the more virulent it becomes

Microbiologists say a species of bacteria was responsible for iron deposits in the sedimentary layers that run hundreds of kilometres deep in the earth

A RECENT find of fossils may help geologists break through the ice obscuring Antarctica's past. David Harwood of the University of Nebraska and his colleagues have collected fossils of marine

Scientists are thrilled by the discovery that fungal enzymes called chitinases are environment friendly fungicides.