An analysis of fungi collected from peat bogs has identified several species that produce substances toxic to the bacterium that causes the human disease tuberculosis. The findings suggest that one promising direction for development of better treatments might be to target biological processes in the bacterium that help maintain levels of compounds known as thiols. Neha Malhotra of the National Institutes of Health, U.S., and colleagues present these findings December 3^rd in the open-access journal PLOS Biology.

From the RMS Titanic to the SS Endurance, shipwrecks offer valuable — yet swiftly deteriorating — windows into the past. Conservators slowly dry marine wooden artifacts to preserve them but doing so can inflict damage. To better care for delicate marine artifacts, researchers in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering developed a new hydrogel that quickly neutralizes harmful acids and stabilized waterlogged wood from an 800-year-old shipwreck.

Since the first fiber optic cables rolled out in the 1970s, they’ve become a major part of everything from medical devices to high-speed internet and cable TV. But as it turns out, one group of marine mollusks was way ahead of us. A new study reveals that clams called heart cockles have unique structures in their shells that act like fiber optic cables to convey specific wavelengths of light into the bivalves’ tissues.