In a joint effort between the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley, for the first time, scientists have recorded detailed images of ultra-small bacteria which are considered to be the smallest known forms of life.
Scientists have captured detailed images of what may be the tiniest life forms on earth.
The study, led by researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley, confirm the existence of “ultra-small” bacteria--a topic which has been debated for 20 years.
These microbes have an average volume of 0.009 cubic-microns, meaning that 150,000 of them could fit on the tip of a strand of hair.
The team believes this may be the smallest size a cell can be while still maintaining the internal structure needed to sustain life.
To gather these cells, they filtered groundwater down to 0.2 microns, a common point for sterilization.
The bacteria that remain
