Newsademic British English edition 260

a c te r ia
 
eyes
Bacteria have existed for millions 
o f years. These tiny microbes are 
found almost everywhere. They live 
in the deepest oceans, on the high­
est mountains and inside humans 
and other living things. Some bac­
teria are even found in acidic hot 
springs. Here, nothing else survives. 
Scientists working at a German uni­
versity now believe that one type of 
bacteria can do something clever. 
Its single cell acts like an eye, so it 
can ‘see’.
Cyanobacteria on freshwater pond (Christian Fischer)
The scientists made their discov­
ery by accident. They were studying 
a microbe called 
Synechocystis
. It 
belongs to a group called Cyanobac­
teria. These organisms are known to 
have existed for at least 2.7 billion 
years. All living things are made up 
o f cells. There are more than ten tril­
lion cells in a human body. Yet bac­
teria only have one.
Synechocystis
is a type o f pond 
slime. It creates a thin green film, 
or covering, on rocks and on the 
surface o f fresh water. It’s known 
that Cyanobacteria move, or travel,

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18th February 2016 
N ew sadem ic.com
™
 - British English edition 
page 
16
towards the light. Like plants, the 
single-celled organism uses sunlight 
to turn carbon dioxide and water 
into starches and sugars. This is 
called photosynthesis. Therefore, to 
multiply, these bacteria need to be 
able to detect light.
W hen the scientists shone a 
light on the pond slime, the tiny 
cells moved towards it. The sci­
entists expected this to happen. 
Then, they saw something unusual.