[The body of this article wound up going missing at some point, leaving the posting empty. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. ~Matt] Microbiologists have discovered what is now known as the world’s largest bacterium, a single-celled organism large enough to be seen with the naked eye,read more
A recent analysis of the fossils of ancient microorganisms from deep within Earth’s past have unveiled the presence of a surprising amount of biodiversity that flourished roughly 3.4 billion years ago, when the Earth was still a very young planet. The variety of metabolic processes that these early microorganisms used suggests that they needed time to evolve the diversity that the researchers discovered, meaning that life on Earth had to have started much, much earlier. And if life on Earth took hold that quickly in its history, what would prevent the multitude of other planets we’re discovering across the universe from forming their own lifeforms?
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