Tiny Titans: The Microorganisms That Can Save Our World
People have ignored the most powerful forces that shape our world for hundreds of years because they can't be seen. Microorganisms, which are too small to see, have been quietly controlling our climate, feeding our soils, and even changing the course of human evolution. Scientists are now looking to these tiny friends for answers as we deal with environmental problems that have never happened before.
Peter Forbes, a science writer, makes a strong case in Thinking Small and Large that microbes, not just technology or policy, could be the key to stopping ecological collapse. Microbial technologies are becoming an unexpected but necessary tool for the survival of the planet. They can help save dying coral reefs and change the way we farm. But can we get past our past bias against these tiny living things and use them to their full potential?
Microbes: From Ancient Villains to Planetary Saviors
Microbes were synonymous with disease for centuries. The work of Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch in the 19th century fixed them as deadly pathogens in our minds. But that reduced perception hid their much larger role as Earth’s earliest life-givers.
More than 2.5 billion years ago, cyanobacteria revolutionized our world by releasing oxygen as part of photosynthesis to create the atmosphere whereby advanced life evolved. Now, microbes control Earth's biogeochemical cycles, balancing carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, and if it weren't for them, ecosystems would break down, and life as it is known today would not be possible.
But as Forbes contends, our 'sapiocentrism' that our intelligence is the peak of evolutionary development has made us blind to theirs. The very creatures that frightened us before may be what save us today.
The Microbial Revolution in Agriculture
One of our most pressing issues is food production that is not sustainable. Industrial farming depends on synthetic fertilizers, which emit nearly 2% of all global CO₂ and degrade soil. But there is an alternative that is cleaner, more efficient, and provided by microbes.
Nitrogen-fixing bacteria, like Rhizobium, enter into symbiosis with legumes, reducing atmospheric nitrogen to plant-available ammonia a process that renders chemical fertilizers unnecessary. Researchers now engineer cereals like wheat and rice to include this bacterial feature, which has the potential to cut world fertilizer consumption by 30%.
In contrast, fungi that form mycorrhizal associations work underground as nutrient highways, joining roots of plants and maximizing water uptake. During times of drought, these microbial highways may increase crop yields by up to 40% while decreasing water consumption. Perhaps farming's future lies not in larger equipment, but in smarter microbes.
Microbes vs. Climate Change: The Tiny Carbon Capturers
As the globe grapples to reduce its emissions of carbon, there is an unlikely ally: electrogenic bacteria. Electrogenic bacteria can turn CO₂ into biofuels solely using electricity and water. Scientists at Harvard have already proven that microbial electrosynthesis is capable of making ethanol and butanol as clean substitutes for fossil fuels.
More hope is provided by methane-consuming microbes within Arctic permafrost and marine sediments. Since methane is 84 times as powerful as CO₂ in 20 years, these microbes serve as a natural check on global warming. Now, scientists are investigating which methods can be used to stimulate them to counteract emissions from livestock and waste tips.
Might the key to reversing climate change be not in grand schemes of geoengineering, but instead in scaling up the activity of Earth's tiniest carbon managers?
Coral Reefs and the Microbial Rescue Mission
The 'sea rainforests,' coral reefs, are disintegrating at an alarming rate as oceans get warmer. But what is most critical isn’t rising temperatures, it’s the dissolution of a 1,000-year-long microbial symbiosis.
Corals draw as much as 90% of their energy from photosynthetic organisms (Symbiodinium) and, when stressed, will expel them, causing them to bleach and die. Scientists have, however, found that some probiotic bacteria can increase coral heat tolerance by 40%, which could provide a lifeline for reefs.
In Florida and Australia, scientists are experimenting with microbial 'probiotic cocktails' to inoculate coral against rising water temperatures. If it works, it could provide coral ecosystems and half-a-billion humans that rely upon them a lifeline of time to survive.
The Human Microbiome: Our Internal Guardians
Not only are we surrounded by microbes, but we are microbes. Our bodies hold 10 times as many bacterial cells as human cells, and our gut microbiome determines everything from immunity to mental health.
Recent research has shown that gut bacteria modulate brain activity, influencing anxiety and depression as well as other functions of the brain. Skin microbes, on the other side, serve as a living barrier against pathogens. According to other scientists, even an increase in autoimmune diseases can be attributed to decreased microbial diversity in current lifestyles.
The future of medicine might not be novel medications, but rather individualized microbial therapeutics in the form of tailored probiotics that reboot our internal ecosystems.
The Economic Potential of Microbial Technologies
In addition to ecology and health, microbes are also pushing a new bioeconomy. Microbial technologies have an estimated global market of $1.7 trillion by 2030, from agriculture to energy to waste treatment.
Startups are increasingly commercializing microbial solutions:
- Biocement: Self-healing bacteria in concrete, decreasing construction emissions
- Microbes that devour plastic: New enzymes that degrade PET plastic within days, not centuries
- Microbial mining: Extracting metals from discarded electronics using bacteria, cutting down mining waste
Forbes contends that adopting microbial innovation might ignite an economic revolution where profitability and sustainability walk in tandem.
