The more humanity acidifies and warms the world's oceans with carbon emissions, the harder we will have to work to save our coral reefs.

Scientists have discovered a molecular assistant called Spy that helps bacteria excel at producing proteins for medical and industrial purposes.

In an unprecedented coming-out party, 100 newly discovered species are revealed to the world in a single scholarly paper coordinated by Field Museum scientists.

According to Dr Annette Baudisch of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany, current methods of comparing patterns of ageing are limited because they confound two different elements of ageing – pace and shape.

Two artificial big toes – one found attached to the foot of an ancient Egyptian mummy – may have been the world's earliest functional prosthetic body parts, says the scientist who tested replicas on volunteers.

If a human cell and a bacterial cell met at a speed-dating event, they would never be expected to exchange phone numbers, much less genetic material. In more scientific terms, a direct transfer of DNA has never been recorded from humans to bacteria.