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• Latin name?

  Nostoc commune. Paracelsus named our genus in the 15th century. As we often grow in slimy green colonies, our name Nostoc was created from the old English (Nosthryl) and German (Nasenloch) for nostril that are often associated with "green and slimy extracellular polysaccharides".

• UK population? (How many are in the UK?)

  gazillion

• Genome Size? (Genome size is the total amount of DNA contained within one copy of a single genome)

  We don't know yet, but it will not be bigger than 10 megabits. Bacteria have a lot smaller genomes than plants and animals.

• Most recent common ancestor to Homo Sapiens (presumed)

  Billions of years ago. We, Cyanobacteria, evolved round 2.5 billion years ago, which was long before the evolution of eukaryotic organisms. We were the first ones able to generate oxygen through photosynthesis and our ancestors led to the evolution of the plant cell via the endosymbiont hypothesis.