In a June, 2016, online report for AAAS, Jessica McDonald overviews a University of Warwick study on how cyanophages interfere with the sequestration of inorganic carbon by the photosynthetic ocean bacterium Synechococcus.
First, a background: Carbon dioxide, the stuff plants use to turn sunlight into food, is a greenhouse gas. By absorbing it during photosynthesis, plants store (sequester) the carbon, effectively cleaning it from the atmosphere until some process like fire or decay cycles it back into Earth’s blanket of air. Viruses called cyanophages naturally exist in ocean water, where they enter photosynthetic bacteria and disrupt this process, lessening the amount of carbon the bacteria can sequester. Why study this? Without the infection, would bacteria reduce the greenhouse effect? This study warrants more study, doesn’t it?
Who would have thunk it? Instead of looking at big time carbon emitters, maybe we should be looking more closely at big time carbon absorbers. Big time? Yes, microbes, as Jessica McDonald reports, sequester about half Earth’s carbon dioxide.
Second, a note: If you consider how difficult it is for humans to interrupt a flu epidemic spreading over a continent, you might realize that it is virtually impossible to control viruses that are free to roam in water that covers 71% of Earth’s surface. Microbes can grow wherever sunlight strikes ocean water, and cyanophages simply take advantage of the situation, just as flu viruses take advantage of human cohabitation.
Third, a lesson: In our hubris we like to think we are in control. That applies widely: We can both make and disrupt civilizations, and we can alter natural settings. Even when we think we see holistically, however, we can miss something apparently little and insignificant, but ultimately big and highly significant—like those cyanophages that in the U. of Warwick study decreased Synechococcus’ ability to store carbon by almost 5 times their normal rate.
Fourth, something like a conclusion: If, because of tiny viruses, we cannot completely control the physical world, the one we can touch, see, and alter, why do we think we can thoroughly control the world of mind and emotion? No, we won’t stop trying to stop behavioral emissions just as we won’t stop trying to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. However, as we continue our attempts to control others, we need to realize that something seemingly little and insignificant might be at work within, something of an infection. Unseen “viruses” might be at work disrupting the normal absorption of advice or therapy aimed at ethical change. Warrants more study, doesn’t it?
First, a background: Carbon dioxide, the stuff plants use to turn sunlight into food, is a greenhouse gas. By absorbing it during photosynthesis, plants store (sequester) the carbon, effectively cleaning it from the atmosphere until some process like fire or decay cycles it back into Earth’s blanket of air. Viruses called cyanophages naturally exist in ocean water, where they enter photosynthetic bacteria and disrupt this process, lessening the amount of carbon the bacteria can sequester. Why study this? Without the infection, would bacteria reduce the greenhouse effect? This study warrants more study, doesn’t it?
Who would have thunk it? Instead of looking at big time carbon emitters, maybe we should be looking more closely at big time carbon absorbers. Big time? Yes, microbes, as Jessica McDonald reports, sequester about half Earth’s carbon dioxide.
Second, a note: If you consider how difficult it is for humans to interrupt a flu epidemic spreading over a continent, you might realize that it is virtually impossible to control viruses that are free to roam in water that covers 71% of Earth’s surface. Microbes can grow wherever sunlight strikes ocean water, and cyanophages simply take advantage of the situation, just as flu viruses take advantage of human cohabitation.
Third, a lesson: In our hubris we like to think we are in control. That applies widely: We can both make and disrupt civilizations, and we can alter natural settings. Even when we think we see holistically, however, we can miss something apparently little and insignificant, but ultimately big and highly significant—like those cyanophages that in the U. of Warwick study decreased Synechococcus’ ability to store carbon by almost 5 times their normal rate.
Fourth, something like a conclusion: If, because of tiny viruses, we cannot completely control the physical world, the one we can touch, see, and alter, why do we think we can thoroughly control the world of mind and emotion? No, we won’t stop trying to stop behavioral emissions just as we won’t stop trying to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. However, as we continue our attempts to control others, we need to realize that something seemingly little and insignificant might be at work within, something of an infection. Unseen “viruses” might be at work disrupting the normal absorption of advice or therapy aimed at ethical change. Warrants more study, doesn’t it?
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