While laying on the deck recently [stretching my back out, if you must know] and watching the birds and clouds fly overhead I was reminded of all the life that goes on up there, out of sight to those of us who are earth bound. Even if we do go up in airplanes it's unlikely we'll look out the window and count insects as we fly along at 5-600 miles an hour. I'm good at spotting birds at 55 but I think spotting insects at 555 is a bit too challenging.
Besides, it's not just birds and insects up there. Ready to be creeped out again?
At 30,000 feet your plane is surrounded by life. Fungi, pollen and bacteria, LOTS of bacteria.
thanks to Przemyslaw "BlueShade" Idzkiewicz and Wikimedia Commons
What a shock that must have been? Finding bacteria in the clouds. Not much is known about these bacteria. Sure, some are species that are commonly found down here at ground (or sea) level. It wouldn't be surprising to find that bacteria use air currents to move from one place to another. But over 60% of the bacteria in the clouds appears to be active. They are going about their normal lives, growing, dividing, spreading. And they quite possibly serve at least one function that we find useful - cloud formation.
So next time your laying outside, looking up and explaining what you think that cloud looks like just remember this - it really looks like a bunch of bacteria clumping together!
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