What is Nanobacteria?
Nanobacteria, also known as nannobacteria, are microbes around 25-200 nanometers in size, about 10 times smaller than what is generally considered extremely small bacteria. Nanobacteria are controversial because claims of their existence have only emerged quite recently — 1990 — and they are smaller than what is generally considered the lower size limit for a living cell (200 nm). They have alternatively been described as inanimate crystal growths and the most abundant life form on Earth. The first nanobacteria were discovered in minerals by Bob Folk, who, in a high magnification SEM study of hot springs carbonates, found miniscule 25-200 nm scale spheroidal and oval shaped objects in calcite and aragonite. Because they looked similar in shape to larger bacteria, but much smaller, Folk called them nanobacteria. Since then, there have been claims of findings in a variety of minerals, human and animal blood, and even on the Martian meteorite ALH84001, discovered in 1996 in Antarctica.
