A nanobe

Nanobes are tiny filamental structures first found in some rocks and sediments. Some hypothesize that they are the smallest form of life, ten times smaller than the smallest known bacteria. The smallest are just 20 nanometers long. Some researchers believe them to be merely crystal growths, but a recent find of DNA in nanobe samples may prove otherwise. They are similar to the life-like structures found in the famous 1996 Mars rock from the Antarctic. Recently there has been some interest amongst bio-tech companies in commercial application of nanobes in utilization of plastics. Some researchers believe nanobe-like organisms might be implicated in a number of diseases, and even that they may explain the previously mysterious calcification of teeth in the human mouth, and thus actually be a useful/necessary probiotic parasite, like acidophilus.

Claims

• It is a living organism (contains DNA or some analogue, and reproduces).
• Has a morphology similar to Actinomycetes and Fungi.
• No article or research states that Nanobes are Nanobacteria.

Discovery

Nanobe were discovered in 1996 (published in American Minerologist, vol 83., 1998) by Philipa Uwins (http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/nanobes/nanophil.html), University of Queensland, Australia.

External links

• definition: http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/N/nanobe.html
• intro: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/nanobes/nanobes.html
• review: http://www.astrobio.net/news/article983.html
• pictures: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/nanobes/nanoimages.html
• interview: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ss/stories/s132235.htm

Credits

The Discovery Team's web site and Published Paper (http://www.uq.edu.au/nanoworld/uwins.html)