Size Limits of Very Small Microorganisms Proceedings of a Workshop (1999) / Chapter Skim
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These questions formed the focus of a workshop on the size limits of very small organisms, organized by the Steering Group for the Workshop on Size Limits of Very Small Microorganisms and held on October 22 and 23, 1998. Eighteen invited panelists, representing fields ranging from cell biology and molecular genetics to paleontology and mineralogy, joined with an almost equal number of other participants in a wide-ranging exploration of minimum cell size and the challenge of interpreting micro- and nano-scale features of sedimentary rocks found on Earth or elsewhere in the solar system.
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Or, fossils might preserve remains that shrank after death, or parts of organisms rather than complete cells both are common in the terrestrial record. 1Contributors to the workshop have usually described relevant scale sizes or dimensions in units of nanometers (nary)
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As the results of the workshop made clear, welcome consensus has emerged among the participants regarding the size and chemical limits on modern life on Earth. But, given reasonable uncertainty about whether such features are particular products of terrestrial evolution or universal features of life, the meter stick by which the biogenicity of martian or other planetary samples is measured will likely be knowledge of the limits on physical processes knowledge that needs to be developed before samples from Mars arrive in the laboratory.
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