Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and collaborators have discovered that many gut bacteria use a flexible survival strategy to withstand disruptions such as antibiotics and diet changes. Published in the May 19 online issue of Cell Host & Microbe (DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2026.04.019), the study shows microbes can switch between functional states, rather than relying solely on genetic mutations, to try to survive shifting conditions. The findings shed light on a previously hidden layer of microbiome biology and may help explain why probiotics and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) produce inconsistent benefits across individuals.

A new article (https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biag047) in the journal BioScience argues that the stewardship practices of Indigenous Peoples and other place-based knowledge holders have been systematically underrepresented in both conservation research and international policy along with the knowledge holders and practitioner themselves—and that correcting this imbalance is essential to more effective and equitable biodiversity governance.