Why Has This Really Common Virus Only Just Been Discovered?

A newly discovered virus called crAssphage lives in the majority of people, and there's lots of it. How could such a common virus go undiscovered for so long, especially considering how popular the study of gut microbes has become? It’s as if zookeepers suddenly realised that most of their zoos contain a giant grey animal with tusks and a trunk, which no one had noticed before. (Image: NSF)

 

Desert Rat Relies on Microbes To Detoxify Its Deadly Meals

"When Kohl removed their microbes, the experienced woodrats couldn’t even handle the tiny levels of creosote that their naive cousins can. “[It] effectively removed 17,000 years of ecological and evolutionary experience with creosote compounds,” he wrote." (Image: Kevin Kohl)


 

These Mice Excel At Assembling The Ideal Sperm Swim Teams

"While groups don’t swim any faster, they do swim straighter because each cell cancels out the wobbling movements of its neighbours. But once the clusters get too big, their members start swimming against each another and their velocity falls. The optimal number is seven. A seven-strong sperm swim-team will get to an egg faster than either a smaller or a bigger group. (Image: Heidi Fisher)

More good reads

• An astonishing swarm of mayflies smothered bits of Wisconsin and showed up on satellite images; Gwen Pearson reports. And here’s a chat with a mayfly chaser: "Bring a shovel."
• In Ghana, fish populations affect pretty much everything, including baboons and education. Michelle Nijhuis explores the links between sea and land
• Hilarious. “No ‘wi-fi’. Talk to each other.” And then it de-escalates quickly.                         
• This googly eyeball is an eclipse and its pupil is a moon spiralling to its death. By Robert Krulwich.
• Asteroid Vesta is like a giant celestial seed, doomed to never germinate into a proper planet. By Nadia Drake.
• Largest aquatic insect in the world found in OH GOD WHAT IS THAT KILL IT WITH FIRE. By Bec Crew.
• THIS SUMMER, one plucky Mars rover will face its biggest challenge yet.

More good links will be released in tomorrow's linkfest on Not Exactly Rocket Science

You can also follow me on Twitter, find regular writing on my blog. If someone has forwarded this email to you, you can sign up yourself. 

And that's it! Thanks for reading.