Our Best View Of Bacteria Is...From Space?!

Observing the effects of microbes using satellites can give us all sorts of useful information about life on Earth ... and other planets too.

And thanks to researchers from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who help generate airborne data used in Professor Jeannine Cavender-Bares' studies.
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To learn more, start your googling with these keywords:

Microbe - an organism (such as a bacterium or protozoan) of microscopic or ultramicroscopic size.
Remote sensing - the scanning of the earth , especially by satellite or high-flying aircraft, in order to obtain information about it.
Pathogen - a bacterium, virus, or other microbe that can cause disease.
Chlorophyll - a green pigment, present in all green plants and in cyanobacteria, responsible for the absorption of light to provide energy for photosynthesis.
Phytoplankton - photosynthesizing microscopic biotic organisms that inhabit the upper sunlit layer of almost all oceans and bodies of fresh water on Earth.
Cholera - an infectious and often fatal bacterial disease of the small intestine, typically contracted from infected water supplies and causing severe vomiting and diarrhea.
Evaporite - a natural salt or mineral deposit left after the evaporation of a body of water.
Microbially induced sedimentary structures (MISS) - primary sedimentary structures formed by the interaction of microbes with sediment and physical agents of erosion, deposition, and transportation.
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Credits (and Twitter handles):
Video Director: Julián Gómez, David Goldenberg
With Contributions From: Henry Reich, Kate Yoshida, Ever Salazar, Peter Reich, David Goldenberg, Julián Gómez, Sarah Berman

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References:

Mirik M, Jones DC, Price JA, Workneh F, Ansley RJ, Rush CM. Satellite remote sensing of wheat infected by wheat streak mosaic virus. Plant Disease. 2011 Jan;95(1):4-12.

Lowe A, Harrison N, French AP. Hyperspectral image analysis techniques for the detection and classification of the early onset of plant disease and stress. Plant methods. 2017 Dec;13(1):80.

Lobitz B, Beck L, Huq A, Wood B, Fuchs G, Faruque AS, Colwell R. Climate and infectious disease: use of remote sensing for detection of Vibrio cholerae by indirect measurement. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2000 Feb 15;97(4):1438-43.

de Magny GC, Mozumder PK, Grim CJ, Hasan NA, Naser MN, Alam M, Sack RB, Huq A, Colwell RR. Role of zooplankton diversity in Vibrio cholerae population dynamics and in the incidence of cholera in the Bangladesh Sundarbans. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.. 2011 Sep 1;77(17):6125-32.

Colwell RR. Global climate and infectious disease: the cholera paradigm. Science. 1996 Dec 20;274(5295):2025-31.

Lausch A, Erasmi S, King D, Magdon P, Heurich M. Understanding forest health with remote sensing-part II—a review of approaches and data models. Remote Sensing. 2017 Feb 5;9(2):129.

Meng J, Li S, Wang W, Liu Q, Xie S, Ma W. Mapping forest health using spectral and textural information extracted from spot-5 satellite images. Remote Sensing. 2016 Aug 31;8(9):719.

Baldridge AM, Farmer JD, Moersch JE. Mars remote‐sensing analog studies in the Badwater Basin, Death Valley, California. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. 2004 Dec;109(E12).

Barbieri R, Stivaletta N. Continental evaporites and the search for evidence of life on Mars. Geological Journal. 2011 Nov;46(6):513-24.

Crowley JK, Hook SJ. Mapping playa evaporite minerals and associated sediments in Death Valley, California, with multispectral thermal infrared images. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 1996 Jan 10;101(B1):643-60.

Noffke N. Ancient sedimentary structures in the [less than] 3.7 Ga Gillespie Lake Member, Mars, that resemble macroscopic morphology, spatial associations, and temporal succession in terrestrial microbialites. Astrobiology. 2015 Feb 1;15(2):169-92.

Landis GA. Searching for life: the case for Halobacteria on Mars. InAIP Conference Proceedings 2001 Feb 2 (Vol. 552, No. 1, pp. 25-28). AIP.

[Stachelbeeerchen]

Me before watching the video: Wait what? No way!
Me after the video: ok makes sense.

[ilikaplayhopscotch]

Love how the drawing of the Mars rover was using google maps or something, that was hilarious!

[flooshm]

The Satellites drawn look like Giant Ice cubes with wings

[PuzzlesExplained]

So you're not observing the bacteria itself, but what effect it has on the environment.

EDIT: Great video btw, super interesting stuff. Great example of how it helps to see the forest instead of the trees.

[micahphilson]

1:00 Hey, I know that little dot north of the brown forest! That's Nebraska National Forest, formerly the largest man made forest in the world!

Nebraska is cool, you all need to come visit some time!

[nickgehr]

Mom can see everything, just use her to see them

[LOUDMOUTHTYRONE]

Microbes are like hobo ninjas. You don't know who living inside you.

[lonelyPorterCH]

Going to space has brought us so much information and comfort :D

[somebody]

The microbes are drawn so cute! Great work, love you guys ❤

[sulpser]

1:09 I swear that's Pippi Longstocking

[Gingercat-]

I love these videos they make learning more fun than school (coming from a 6th grader)

[radomiami]

Me: Wait, it's bacteria?
MinuteEarth: Always has been

[speedybeattie]

Using macro views to look at micro life. Very cool.

[CthulhusDream]

Petition to rename "tree diseases" to "treeseases"

[samuelmatheson]

MICROBE








AWWW MAN,
so we back in the lab got our pipits swinging from...

[atulkamble]

Ur presentation idea and everything is sooo goodd..👍👌....

[Biobele]

Bacteria's best view of you is from your phone

[Jamato-sUn]

Heeey, my subtitles got approved. Nice! Thank you =) It's a real morale boost.

[randomtraveler]

2:13 Everyone's an aliebn when ur an aliebn too💕

[Sir_Uncle_Ned]

Satellites are good at giving us the big picture on small life