by Elio — Things pop up in mi­cro­bi­ol­ogy that are truly as­tound­ing. The claim that one can par­tially turn a bac­terium into an ar­chaeon rates high on this list. Ar­chaea and Bac­te­ria be­long to dif­fer­ent main branches of the tree of life and have many dis­tinc­tive bio­chem­i­cal and struc­tural dif­fer­ences.