When a maize plant is attacked by the fungus Ustilago maydis, tumor-like tissue growths occur at the site of infection. How the pathogen causes this response in its host has long been unknown. But a ...

Cheese fungus, head lice, human sperm, a bee eye, a microplastic bobble: scientific photographer Steve Gschmeissner has imaged them all under the probing lens of a scanning electron microscope (SEM).

Fungi play an important role for mankind. In the soil, they decompose dead organic material, making it accessible to plants as a nutrient. In industrial biotechnological plants, fungi produce vast ...

Through a microscope, Matt Nelsen peers at an ant clinging to a branch with a death grip. A long spike shoots from the insect’s back — the calling card of the “zombie” fungus that killed this tiny ...