Minuscule life-forms known as protists have been known for centuries. But powerful microscopes, advances in genetic and computational technologies, and old-fashioned fieldwork are now revealing extensive diversity among these single-celled life-forms. Many are bizarre enough to star in a science fiction series. As life sciences writer Susan Milius reports, one critter has a “head” that spins, a skill creepy enough that its discoverers gave it the name Daimonympha friedkini, inspired by the demonically possessed child in the 1973 film The Exorcist and its director, William Friedkin. Another creature, shaped like a flying saucer, glides into the bodies of its prey, devouring them from the inside.
2023-10-01 06:15:00
Article from www.sciencenews.org
