What are Nanobes?
Nanobes are bizarre filamentary structures found in some rocks. They range in size from 20 nanometers to about 50 nm, around 10 times smaller than the smallest known bacteria. They are similar in size to some of the smallest known viruses, such as Parvovirus, only 25 nm across and with a genome only 5,000 base pairs long. Some theorize that nanobes are living organisms that self-replicate and even assist with the calcification of teeth, but the jury is still out on that hypothesis. Nanobes must not be confused with nanobacteria, another type of super-small controversial possible class of life. The difference is that nanobacteria are said to have cell walls, whereas nanobes are wall-less filamentary structures. If nanobes are confirmed to have genetic material, as one researcher has claimed to have found, they could be the smallest and simplest class of life ever discovered, and maybe even among the first organisms on Earth. Many scientists are skeptical that nanobes are living because
