Size Matters, or, Why Don't We Have Gigantic Bacteria?

Looking at recent Friday videos, we’ve been spending a good amount of time in the microscopic world. Can you blame us, given the state of the macroscopic?

Regardless, given all of this microscope gazing, one has to ask the question, why don’t we have gigantic bacteria? The answer comes down to a question of diffusion and the relationship of surface area to volume, as shown in the video below.

So the good news is that giant bacteria is one less thing we have to worry about in 2020.

David Crotty

@scholarlykitchn

David Crotty is the Editorial Director, Journals Policy for Oxford University Press. He serves on the Board of Directors for the STM Association, the Society for Scholarly Publishing and CHOR, Inc. David received his PhD in Genetics from Columbia University and did developmental neuroscience research at Caltech before moving from the bench to publishing.

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1 Thought on "Size Matters, or, Why Don’t We Have Gigantic Bacteria?"

I love these guys. They do brilliant videos! It should be a must see in all science classes! 🙂

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