[HN Gopher] One centimeter long bacterium discovered
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       One centimeter long bacterium discovered
        
       Author : deathgripsss
       Score  : 88 points
       Date   : 2022-06-23 19:53 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.science.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.science.org)
        
       | baltimore wrote:
       | Here is what I want to see when I click that link: a picture. Of
       | a bacterium. Next to a ruler. Thank you.
       | 
       | UPDATE: My bad, there are plenty of pictures in the supplemental
       | materials downloadable further down the page
        
         | xnx wrote:
         | Dime for scale:
         | https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/23/science/giant-bacterium.h...
        
         | mensetmanusman wrote:
         | Build the software to make this possible:
         | 
         | The trouble is that when writers are discussing scientific
         | research, they could be sued if they use the images in the
         | article without permission.
         | 
         | There needs to be an easy way to revenue share with publishers
         | when these copyrighted images are used. It would definitely be
         | a win-win scenario.
        
           | taneq wrote:
           | Is this not precisely what fair use is about?
        
           | Mirioron wrote:
           | I see this being downvoted, but images are copyrighted. Using
           | an image for illustrative purposes is not fair use, is it?
           | Therefore the articles can't just share the same images.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | AnimalMuppet wrote:
         | Hmm. I could swear that, when I first clicked on it, there was
         | a picture of several of them, next to a dime. (Also, left-right
         | reversed - you could tell by the writing on the dime.)
        
         | lxe wrote:
         | Still annoying... have to download them and such.
        
       | JoeAltmaier wrote:
       | https://backoffice.sciencesetavenir.fr/sites/sea/files/2022-...
        
       | Metacelsus wrote:
       | Interesting. It seems like
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiomargarita_namibiensis only much
       | larger.
       | 
       | (Previous coverage discussing the preprint:
       | https://www.science.org/content/article/largest-bacterium-ev... )
        
       | beefman wrote:
       | Human neurons can be a meter long.
        
         | Symmetry wrote:
         | Those have got glial cells to help support the parts far from
         | the nucleus. Plus they're in a cooperative multicellar
         | environment, not off by their lonesome.
        
       | im3w1l wrote:
       | Really neat bacterium. Sounds like it's on the verge of becoming
       | an eukaryote.
       | 
       | https://www.newscientist.com/article/2325909-largest-known-b...
        
       | pvaldes wrote:
       | Hum... I'm unsure and my sea spider sense is tingling. My first
       | impression would be an egg sack like those from Opisthobranchia
       | that could explain the DNA in pouches, or maybe a small bryozoa.
       | If is covered in bacteria it could explain the genetic analysis.
       | 
       | Another possibility would be some kind of crystals growing from
       | sulfur and covered in bacteria.
       | 
       | We need and electronic microscope image here and hystological
       | cuts stained with gram.
        
       | chrisbrandow wrote:
       | Amazing that cell walls are strong enough to maintain integrity
       | at that size!
        
         | nonsapreiche wrote:
         | not to mention the cell that is a chicken egg
        
           | sedatk wrote:
           | Biologically, an eggshell isn't a cell wall.
        
           | stjohnswarts wrote:
           | ostrich egg?
        
             | randoglando wrote:
             | Ostrich yolk technically
        
         | 6equj5 wrote:
         | Check out this one:
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valonia_ventricosa
        
           | Teknoman117 wrote:
           | The cytoplasm of those are very interesting. It has multiple
           | partitions, and the cytoplasm is very viscous. They don't
           | "pop" if there is damage or leak all their contents into the
           | water. They can repair some amount of damage.
        
       | atmb4u wrote:
       | went down the rabbit hole and found this: Largest single cell
       | organism (1.6 inches)
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valonia_ventricosa
        
         | sigmoid10 wrote:
         | >The entire cell contains several cytoplasmic domains with each
         | domain having a nucleus and a few chloroplasts.
         | 
         | This somehow feels like a multicellular organism that didn't
         | _quite_ make the jump that other eukaryotes did.
        
         | Byamarro wrote:
         | These are even bigger (20cm/8in):
         | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophyophorea
        
       | jasonhansel wrote:
       | Not the only unicellular organism visible to the naked eye. For
       | example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valonia_ventricosa
        
         | progman32 wrote:
         | Aside: Searching for "Valonia ventricosa" in YouTube gives me
         | absolutely atrocious results. A bunch of clickbait medical
         | things and random gross-out stuff. Bleh. Anyone else?
        
       | Symmetry wrote:
       | I guess being long and thin they don't violate the square/cube
       | laws that normally keep bacteria from getting too big given that
       | they have to use their outer walls rather than mitochondria to
       | respirate. Still very impressive.
        
         | JoeAltmaier wrote:
         | Some larger bacteria use a water sac inside to push all the
         | living components close to the surface. So osmosis can feed
         | them oxygen. I wonder if this one does that?
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2022-06-23 23:00 UTC)