In biology and life, organisms have a basic drive to reproduce and every living thing needs energy. This is the topic for today's River Life column.

Photosynthetic organisms (autotrophs), such as plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, appear to be quite flexible in their growth rate and chemical composition and are able to adjust their ratios ...

Autotrophs participate in the carbon cycle by fixing carbon dioxide to produce the biomass that all other organisms use for life. Four autotrophic carbon-fixation pathways were already known and ...