In a year where they've already had a trio of capybara pups named in their honour, Rush will now have three new species of microbes bear their names.
The microbes of the new pseudotrichonympha species, discovered by Universtiy of British Columbia scientists to be found in the guts of termites, have been named P. leei, P. lifesoni, and P. pearti after bandmates Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart. As you can see in a video below, the microbes sport manes of more than 10,000 long flagella, not unlike the band in their early years.
"A Spanish postdoc, Javier del Campo, asked me to recommend some good Canadian music, and I suggested he listen to Rush," University of British Columbia microbiologist Patrick Keeling said in a statement. "He came back to me and said 'Those microbes we're finding have long hair like the guys on the album 2112!'"
Wildly enough, the P. pearti microbe contains a never-before-seen rotating cellular structure, similar to its namesake's drum kits. Dubbed "rotatosome," the researchers are still unsure of its function, with Keeling adding that "none of us has ever seen anything like this" in the lab.
You can read about the team's findings in microscopic detail here.
The microbes of the new pseudotrichonympha species, discovered by Universtiy of British Columbia scientists to be found in the guts of termites, have been named P. leei, P. lifesoni, and P. pearti after bandmates Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart. As you can see in a video below, the microbes sport manes of more than 10,000 long flagella, not unlike the band in their early years.
"A Spanish postdoc, Javier del Campo, asked me to recommend some good Canadian music, and I suggested he listen to Rush," University of British Columbia microbiologist Patrick Keeling said in a statement. "He came back to me and said 'Those microbes we're finding have long hair like the guys on the album 2112!'"
Wildly enough, the P. pearti microbe contains a never-before-seen rotating cellular structure, similar to its namesake's drum kits. Dubbed "rotatosome," the researchers are still unsure of its function, with Keeling adding that "none of us has ever seen anything like this" in the lab.
You can read about the team's findings in microscopic detail here.