ons often cannot be perceived t observation.”
In 1998 t and ancient Ernst Mayr ( time of my ing is nearing one ill going strong) stirredt furt t two prime divisions of life—“empires”
ional Academy of Sciences,Mayr said t oese’s findings eresting but ultimately misguided, noting t“oese trained as a biologist and quite naturally does not ensivefamiliarity ion,” can come to saying of anot kno.
ticisms are too teco need extensive airing ic sexuality, ion, and controversial interpretationsof terium trop else—butessentially oese’s arrangement unbalances tree of life. terialrealm, Mayr notes, consists of no more to be found—“but .” By contrast, tic realm—t is, ted organisms ed cells, like us—numbers already in terial organisms in a single category,Prokaryota, anothe living world.”
tinction beteriaand gram-positive bacteria clearly ter of moment for most of us, but it is eac from its neigs. Ifoese’s ne teac is t life really is various and t most oft variety is small, unicellular, and unfamiliar. It is a natural o tion as a long cs, of a never-ending advance toy—in a oter ourselves. Most of ty inevolution flukes—an interesting side brancy-ts, animals, and fungi—are largeenougo be seen by tain species t are microscopic.
Indeed, according to oese, if you totaled up all t—every livingts included—microbes for at least 80 percent of all to t ime.
So some point in your life, do microbes so often to us? possible satisfaction could to a microbe in , after all, is oprovide long-term ality.
to begin is most microorganisms are neutral or evenbeneficial to rampantly infectious organism on Earterium called olbac all—or, come to t, any otebrates—but if you are a s fly, it can make you one microbe in a to National Geograp some of t t is quite enougly benign, microbes are still tern ence.
Making a uns for toms of an illnessoften o spread ting, sneezing, and diarr metting out of one and into position for anot effectiv