How mysterious microbes might have triggered evolution of life on Earth
At some point in evolution, scientists say some archaea assigned the cell-division job to a different set of proteins. This is where cell biologist Buzz Baum’s latest work comes in. Evolutionary biologist David Baum’s group has been studying the archaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius – a protein. In this case, the scientific...
US intelligence community rocked by insider threat – yet again
A federal grand jury has charged an FBI employee for stealing classified documents and keeping them in her home between 2004 and 2017, the FBI announced Friday. The employee, Kendra Kingsley, allegedly took documents that detailed the FBI’s sources and methods the FBI uses to counter cyber threats, as well...
DR Congo government struggles to rescue citizens in Goma as Mt Nyiragongo volcano erupts
The government in the Democratic Republic of Congo has launched an urgent evacuation plan for the eastern city of Goma after a large volcano erupted. Fountains of high lava burst from the Mount Nyiragongo into the night sky forming a thick orange cloud over Goma, which has a population of...
Hearts of darkness: Tales of well-paid UN staff preying on poor Congolese women
Months of media investigations into the vulturous behaviour of United Nations humanitarian corps deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo has brought to the fore the rot in philanthropy for people in distress in Africa. According United Nations media agency The New Humanitarian and Thomson Reuters Foundation World Health Organization’s...
Mysterious microbes that might be key to understanding how life evolved on Earth
Evolutionary biologist David Baum was thrilled to flick through a preprint in August 2019 and come face-to-face – well, face-to-cell – with a distant cousin. Baum, who works at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, was looking at an archaeon: a type of microorganism best known for living in extreme environments, such...
