By Lisa Zyga
Electron microscope images of silica-based microshells of several diatom species. Credit: Xiong, et al. Originally from Hildebrand. ©1990 Cambridge University Press.The single-celled Spirostomum is a tiny brown worm that can contract its 500-micrometer-long body to 25% of its length in a millisecond, making this protozoan the fastest-contracting microorganism known. Scientists think of microorganisms like this as tiny functional machines. After all, many of them have capabilities far surpassing the current state-of-the-art in MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems) technology.
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