The stranger within

When she died in 2024, Spain’s Maria Branyas was the world’s oldest woman. She was 117. Experts believe the secret to her longevity may have been the bacteria living in her gut – her microbiome – and

The elevator pitch made this trip sound very glamorous, but it’s nearing 43ºC and I’ve been stooping around in the desert for over an hour, eyes fixed on the arid earth. We’re in the Turkana Basin in

Johnny Drain Adventures in Fermentation From ancient origins to culinary frontiers, an exploration of the microbes that shape the world we live in 320pp. Penguin Life. £20. Tim Spector Ferment The lif

It all started promisingly enough. French biologist Gabriela Lobinska had enjoyed her Ph.D. training, researching how organisms change over time. Arriving at Harvard Medical School in September 2024,

Whether mutually beneficial or a parasitic nuisance, Nature’s symbiotic relationships are as multifarious as they are marvellous, says John Lewis-Stempel

Reality is far stranger than fiction, and this is certainly true of my family history. I am one of seven American children born to Hungarian physicians Clara and Julian Ambrus who grew up in Budapest