Mare Internum: The Secret World Inside You

Collaged from the article, “Grow a Bacterial Zoo in a Bottle,” by Steph Yin, Popular Science, March 24, 2016

​

​

One huge

Winogradsky

column,

the pond

digests

a diverse

 

mix, organized

into clear

layers based

on their energy

sources:

Afghanistan,

 

Eritrea, Iraq,

Nigeria.

With a few

cups of mud

and some

other simple

 

materials, out

of direct

sunlight,

a lush garden

of migrants

colonizes—

 

sulfur-eating

bacteria

at the bottom;

carbon-eating

in the middle;

and photosynthesizing

 

microbes at the top—

a self-sustaining

ecosystem

of distinct,

experimental

parts.