From here on in, it’s a question of live fast, die young, leave a good looking cell.

Bacteria colonise everywhere on Earth, from the deepest ocean to the highest cloud forest, inside trees, outside trees, inside animals, on the skins of animals, everywhere.

There are bacteria in your loo, on your face, under the cushions on the sofa, and also in volcanos, and undersea volcanos, and even floating on air currents a hundred thousand metres high in the sky.

They vary wildly, forming many different families, with many different adaptations. Some get thicker outer walls, and become gram-positive, some thinner and harder, called gram-negative. Some become parasites that live on, or in, larger creatures. Some become spiral shaped, and others learn to shape-shift dramatically as a means of locomotion.

They are arguably the most successful life form on the planet.