Original version

BBC World Service News Internet

Science in Action

Science In Action

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

The BBC brings you all the week's science news.

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

Science In Action: Monster microbe

Magazines & Reviews

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

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Science In Action

Monster microbe

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service News Internet

About BBC World Service