We count on livestock for food and fiber, but raising these animals also produces an atmosphere-warming gas: methane. Those emissions mainly come from gut microbes — the bacteria and archaea breaking down plant matter. So since 2010, the JGI has supported researchers studying those microbial methane-makers. Eventually, that could help us dial back their emissions, while still producing things like meat, milk, and wool. Hear more from JGI collaborators Sinead Leahy (New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre) and Bill Kelly (AgResearch). [Read More]

Black fungi are microscopic and mighty. They survive everywhere from Antarctica to Joshua Tree National Park, despite extremely harsh conditions. And their survival secrets could one day help other organisms survive hotter, drier climates. So University of Tuscia researchers Laura Selbmann and Claudia Coleine are working with scientists from around the world – and the JGI – to understand them better. [Read More]

In honor of the JGI’s 25th anniversary, a JGIota episode on soybean, a crop that could boost biofuels and fertilize fields. [Read More]

In honor of the JGI’s 25th anniversary, a JGIota episode on a single-celled alga called Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. [Read More]