Comments on: Making Tracks

Making Tracks

Kronos_to_Earth — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 10:35:37 -0800

"We were looking for pretty animals that have eyes, are coloured, or glow in the dark; instead, the most interesting find was the organism that was blind, brainless, and completely covered in mud." Some of the oldest fossil records may need to be reconsidered: Dr. Mikhail Matz of the University of Texas has discovered Gromia Sphaerica, a species of protist, making tracks....

'Finding Giant Deep Sea Protists', a video interview with Dr. Matz.

By: greatgefilte

greatgefilte — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 10:50:03 -0800

That's one big protist! I always thought unicellar organisms were limited in size by their low surface-to-volume ratio. Makes me wonder how Gromia gets around it.

By: sonic meat machine

sonic meat machine — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 10:56:53 -0800

Astounding. I love seeing new discoveries about our world; sometimes it can seem so small, and yet there are many things we don't know.

By: greenie2600

greenie2600 — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 10:59:18 -0800

Cool post! These would be awesome to keep as pets.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 11:03:38 -0800

...we even thought that it might be some high tech poop... Now there's a B movie.

By: Lipstick Thespian

Lipstick Thespian — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 11:12:27 -0800

This is one of the most....what's the word? Adorable! things I've ever read about. *goes back to beaming at little unicellular protist making it's tracks* Go G. Sphaerica! Beat State!

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 11:33:09 -0800

That's one big protist! I always thought unicellar organisms were limited in size by their low surface-to-volume ratio. Makes me wonder how Gromia gets around it. It has a shell.

By: reynaert

reynaert — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 11:35:10 -0800

The size of a grape, they say. But how does it taste?

By: footnote

footnote — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 11:40:31 -0800

So cool! I like how one of the discarded theories was that the lil guys were "high tech poop" until they found out what they actually were. (Video at about 1:20.)

By: Dumsnill

Dumsnill — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:23:21 -0800

But how does it taste I see your single malt whiskey and raise you a single celled wine.

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:25:47 -0800

Huh. Turns out gelatinous cubes are real, but they were spheres all along. Who knew.

By: Kronos_to_Earth

Kronos_to_Earth — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:27:13 -0800

It was nice to find an adorable amoeba; some of them aren't so. Not a B movie: Brain Eating Amoebas. They have been (and I don't think they've been eradicated....) a problem in the (recreational) lake used to cool the Clinton nuclear power plant, in my corner of the world.

By: Nonce

Nonce — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:27:53 -0800

At 2:15 or so, he says there are other giant protists in the deep sea that don't move. He makes it seem like they are even bigger. Anyone know what they are/can Google up some pictures of these other ones?

By: robtf3

robtf3 — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:46:42 -0800

Anyone know what they are/can Google up some pictures of these other ones? Xenophyophores

By: ZenMasterThis

ZenMasterThis — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 13:09:40 -0800

MetaFilter: blind, brainless, and completely covered in mud.

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 14:08:22 -0800

Found some video of Gromia Sphaerica in action. Grape-sized single-celled organisms? Even with a shell, this is fascinating stuff.

By: paisley henosis

paisley henosis — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 14:10:24 -0800

Metafilter: Some kind of high-tech poops.

By: DanielDManiel

DanielDManiel — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 14:18:00 -0800

Wow this is really amazing. My advisor works on early trace fossils, and this certainly has the potential to be a huge paradigm shift in the study of early metazoan life. I'm gonna have to go read that paper.

By: empath

empath — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:21:16 -0800

i don't think 'how do they taste' is a dumb question at all. Are they edible?

By: damo

damo — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:30:57 -0800

Sea tribbles!

By: swell

swell — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 20:45:55 -0800

Tastes like chicken.

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 20:51:25 -0800

put 22 of those critters on a football field and they, too, can beat the lions