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Science In Action: Monster microbe

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thiomargarita_magnifica1920x1080.jpeg

23/06/2022 GMT

Monster microbe

BBC World Service - Science In Action, Monster microbe

Gigantic bacterium discovered in the Caribbean.  It’s the size and shape of an eyelash.

A gigantic bacterium is discovered in the Caribbean.  Plus, women scientists are being denied due credit, the earliest wildfires in Earth's history and the rise of the mammals.

Researchers have discovered a species of bacteria which dwarfs all others by thousands of times.  Normally you need a microscope to see single-celled bacteria, but Thiomargarita magnifica is the length and width of an eyelash.  It's been found growing in mangrove swamps in the Caribbean.  Roland Pease talks to Jean Marie Volland about what makes this Godzilla of the microbial world extra-special.

Also in the programme, a new study published in the journal Nature has discovered that women scientists are less likely than their male peers to be credited for their contributions to research projects.  Roland discusses the findings with the study leader Julia Lane of New York University and nanoscientist Shobhana Narasimhan in Bangalore.    We also find out about the oldest evidence for wildfires on the planet which raged across the land 430 million years ago, with palaeobotanist Ian  Glasspool.  And Edinburgh University vertebrate palaeontologist Steve Brusatte talks about some of the evolutionary wonders in his new book The Rise and Reign of the Mammals.  

(Image: Thiomargarita magnifica.  © The Regents of the University of California, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)


Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker

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