Some scientists at the University of British Columbia discovered three new microbes in the guts of termites.
And when you're Canadian and something comes in a group of three and you've got to name it, you name it after the members of Rush!
The newly discovered Pseudotrichonympha species are called O. Leei, P. lifesoni, and P. pearti—of course named for Rush's Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart, respectively.
Researcher Patrick Keeling said he recently recommended a Spanish colleague check out Rush. When the microbes were discovered that same colleague remarked, "'Those microbes we're finding have long hair like the guys on the album 2112."
As explained in the video above, those 'long hairs' are called flagella, which the organisms use to move.
“We have looked at a lot of crazy cells in my lab, and none of us has ever seen anything like this,” Keeling said.
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