Can the Microsphere save the Macro?

Can the Microsphere save the Macro?

These days I am fascinated by microbiology. I am not a biologist or microbiologist, but the microbiome surrounds, and penetrates us. Literally there are billions, and trillions of microbes living on, around and within us. Total biomass in microbial life, is more than the rest of life put together.

We hear all the time about how probiotics can shape our personal health. Living medicines are being developed to fight cancer. Algae are being discovered and modified to secrete useful energy, food or material byproducts.  With an increasing atmospheric CO2 loading, increased frequency of antibiotic resistant bacteria and relatively new found knowledge and ability in areas of genetic modification; where will it take us?

Already people are discovering microbes that can build materials, or create energy. Some are naturally occurring, others are modified in some way. We know up to 20% of the atmospheric oxygen on our planet comes from phytoplankton in our oceans. We also know that organisms can be sensitive to pH. In a human the acceptable range is about 7.15-7.45to support life. When the pH of an ecosystem changes, it can have enormous effect. The ocean is our largest ecosystem, and CO2 creates a more acidic environment.

Changing environs means adaptation. Humans have proven quite adaptable. Maybe the only more successful type of organisms are microbes. A generation can be as short as 20 minutes. From this perspective, it’s no wonder bacterium have evolved to antibiotics after a ‘short’ 2 million generations. Metabolism, and oxygen production in Phytoplankton is greatly reduced in an acidic ocean. Will the natural evolution of phytoplankton be enough to compensate? Will genetically modified algae become a turbocharged carbon sequestration tool?

Along these same lines, will we be able to slow the loss of productive cropland? Elon Musk is promising to take us to Mars. When we begin to develop the Terraforming techniques we will need to make Mars habitable, will they help to save life on Earth? We could create prolific lichens to help Green the Desert, instigate a houseplant revolution, and interior greenscapes. Efficiency in agriculture is almost nonexistent in our nation. Near the Arctic Circle however are multiple efforts toward utilizing greenhouses for production and efficiency. People are carefully controlling nutrient and gas cycles creating techniques that may ultimately revolutionize agriculture.  

Carbon Sequestration, energy or materials production are not the limits of the microbial world, they’re only the beginning. Almost all aspects of medicine are being shaken up by the microbiome. Using viruses called Bacteriophages, and cultivating specific bacterial strains to live in a person’s gut, or on their skin, may open the door to treating almost all types of disease. Will probiotic treatments replace antibiotic treatments? Will we sequence RNA to create our own Bacteriophages?

All these things are happening now. With, or without support of government or big business, innovation is pervasive. Probiotics in the 21^st century will mean much more than antibiotics did to the 20^th century. Microscopic life has been our life support, and will be our saving grace. Successful life is symbiotic. To succeed on Earth, we must NOT be parasites.