Question: What’s the most interesting species you’ve studied?

Sam Rowe answered on 9 Jul 2022:

Really hard to say because I haven’t had the chance to look at many individual species yet. However, one range of lifeforms I find really fascinating are the protists. They’re microscopic, single-celled organisms – things like algae, slime moulds and amoebas. They’re all really unique but not much is known about them so the Darwin Tree of Life project should really help increase our understanding. Studying protist genomes could also help us find new ways to tackle climate change or produce new biofuels! There’s a great article here if you wanted to find out more: https://www.earlham.ac.uk/articles/biologys-dark-matter-unseen-life-huge-impact