A 20 year search leads to the discovery of the nitroplast, a nitrogen-fixing organelle hiding inside algae.
ninju•Jul 14, 2026
Kudos to the scientists everywhere that continue to explore the mysteries of nature
whitten•Jul 14, 2026
Since computational biology is all about simulation, do the chloroplast, the mitochondria, and now the nitro-last, have definitions that could be actively simulated ?
dekhn•Jul 14, 2026
Practically speaking, while we could simulate them at a fairly approximate level, it wouldn't really tell us anything useful.
Edit: "It was a type of algae called Braarudosphaera bigelowii. Hagino fondly just calls it Bigelowii."
Is this pronounced bigggie-lowie?
bradrn•Jul 14, 2026
It’s presumably named after Henry Bigelow (like several other things in oceanography), so my guess would be /bɪɡəˈlə͡ʊwi.a͡ɪ/.
imzadi•Jul 14, 2026
This is a nicely written article, which feels like a rarity lately.
jjtheblunt•Jul 14, 2026
was just thinking the same: it's so refreshingly well written (!)
pixel_popping•Jul 14, 2026
it's a new model, human-sol-ultra, highly advisable to use in loops.
HarHarVeryFunny•Jul 14, 2026
Fantastic - the nitroplast joining a pretty exclusive club there.
Bigelowii itself seems very interesting, even without this nitrogen fixing organelle, having two completely different phases to it's life - one in a weird dodecahedral calcareous shell and one without as a mobile flagellate. Apparently it can exist and reproduce in either form, and occasionally switch forms. It took scientists a long while to realize the two forms are actually the same species.
egiboy•Jul 14, 2026
Two phases of Bigelowii.
Deuce Bigelowii.
Huh.
HarHarVeryFunny•Jul 14, 2026
Damn! :)
m3047•Jul 14, 2026
CO2, you say? Human activity produces tens of percent of the bioavailable nitrogen.
Terr_•Jul 14, 2026
A facile comparison: the problem with CO2 involves the equilibrium level (or lack thereof) between the flows of what is emitted to the pool versus removed.
In contrast, excessive bio-available nitrogen is unlikely to build up, not when most of the biosphere is waiting to grab it and (relatively quickly) turn it back into inert N2 gas.
pravetz259•Jul 14, 2026
I'm skeptical of the "magic noodles" bit as mentioned in the article.
The "tokoroten" noodles are just agar.
Pretty much everyone in biology tries growing cells in agar, right? Surely that can't have been an amazing discovery?
poizan42•Jul 14, 2026
Maybe there is something else in Gelidium amansii that it needs, if the tokoroten was produced in the traditional way?
colingauvin•Jul 14, 2026
I've had cells growing fine in 20 L Cytiva wave bags and then fail to grow in 20 L Sartorius wave bags. Anyone that tells you they know how a cell grows is lying to themselves :)
applicative•Jul 14, 2026
The recent paper in explicitly discusses the matter "The prepared tokoroten was frozen at −20C, then thawed at room temperature. The thawed tokoroten separated into agar and liquid parts naturally,... " https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00318884.2026.26...
8 Comments
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastid
Edit: "It was a type of algae called Braarudosphaera bigelowii. Hagino fondly just calls it Bigelowii."
Is this pronounced bigggie-lowie?
Bigelowii itself seems very interesting, even without this nitrogen fixing organelle, having two completely different phases to it's life - one in a weird dodecahedral calcareous shell and one without as a mobile flagellate. Apparently it can exist and reproduce in either form, and occasionally switch forms. It took scientists a long while to realize the two forms are actually the same species.
Deuce Bigelowii.
Huh.
In contrast, excessive bio-available nitrogen is unlikely to build up, not when most of the biosphere is waiting to grab it and (relatively quickly) turn it back into inert N2 gas.
The "tokoroten" noodles are just agar.
Pretty much everyone in biology tries growing cells in agar, right? Surely that can't have been an amazing discovery?