Baking is hard. Baking sourdough bread is even harder, because you have to rely on wild yeasts and bacteria to make your bread rise. But we don't know much about how these tiny organisms work. So researchers at NC State collected hundreds of sourdough starters from all over the world to try to understand the secret lives of microbes.
Biology
The return of the predator
Top predators are moving to new habitats, challenging our assumptions about how and where predators can thrive
Prepare to see predators in unexpected places
August 3, 2018
What happens when you sneeze?
Do you know what happens when you sneeze and why?
What happens when you sneeze?
March 3, 2018
Millions of bats are dying to ‘white-nose syndrome,’ biologists look for hope in NC's Coastal Plain
Biologists investigate why some bats on North Carolina's coast seem to be escaping a fungal disease that's killing bats across the U.S.
Healing Gardens: Lesson Plan
Learn about photosynthesis: the natural process that fuels the living world.
A Library of Plants: Lesson Plan
Explain how the use, protection and conservation of natural resources impact the environment, including biodiversity, from one generation to the next, then learn how researchers in North Carolina are helping to conserve and preserve native plants by saving seeds in a long-term seed storage facility.
Bees are Healthy Eaters
Bees are Healthy Eaters
May 25, 2016
File this under “animals are smarter than humans.” New research from NC State University shows that honeybees will, for the most part, neglect soda and other foods with processed sugars in favor of sugar from flowers.
Small Birds and Sports Cars
Tropical Birds Evolved 'Superfast' Muscles to Win Mates
May 19, 2016
There is something inherently male about sports cars. That is not to say there are not thousands of female sports car aficionados out there, but data has shown that sports car drivers tend to be male.
Modified Medical Maggots
Modified Medical Maggots
May 13, 2016
And now for things that make you go “Blugh!”
Maggots inspire a gut-churning reaction. Seeing them out in nature causes us to wrinkle our noses, and bad slasher flicks use them as a visual cue for fear and disgust.
But for some people with wounds that just will not heal on their own, maggots genetically modified by NC State University entomologist Max Scott could hold the key to the healing they need.
Hundreds of Tiny Roommates
Study Surveys the Insects in Raleigh-Area Homes
May 11, 2016
Sorry, North Carolina, you are not alone in your homes.
That, perhaps, should not come as a surprise. Hardly a week goes by where we don’t find a bug or spider hiding in a dark corner of our kitchen or bedroom, but many people probably don’t wonder how many others there might be—while many others don’t want to know.