• Question: whats your favourite kind of micro organism?

    Asked by keen520bora on 11 Jul 2025.
    • Photo: Kirsty Ross

      Kirsty Ross answered on 11 Jul 2025:

      I would probably have to say the microorganism that I studied as part of my PhD (Streptococcus pneumoniae) as it produces a toxin that we can engineer into a sniffable vaccine. Although, right now, my favourite microorganism(s) are the ones I am growing in my sourdough. It is a mix of 50% buckwheat and 50% French bread flour, and the buckwheat is turning it slightly pink! It makes create sourdough cherry scones though…

    • Photo: Hannah Scholes

      Hannah Scholes answered on 20 Jul 2025:

      Mine would have to be Pyrococcus furiosus. It’s a type of organism called an Archea, and it lives in the hot water around hydrothermal vents (somewhere around 100 degrees Celsius!). The name literally means “rushing fireball”, and I just love the name – I think it’s fantastic!

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