These bizarre, much-coveted microbes are revealing the origins of complex life0

• SCIENCE, Science / Health, Science Mission Directorate, scientists, Space, Space Communications & Navigation Program, Space Launch System (SLS), Space Telescope, space-x-ipo, SpaceX
• September 16, 2026

Over two days in June, Emily Aguilar-Pine drove 2,500 kilometres from Bozeman, Montana, to Austin, Texas, with one of microbiology’s most coveted organisms in the back of her mother’s SUV. Inside some protective packaging, labelled ‘hopes and dreams’, was a small bottle containing about 30 millilitres of what looked like clear liquid, but that in