Scientists Name Microbe Species After Rush

Rush have already had capybara triplets named after them this year, and now they're getting three species of microbe too. Exclaim! reports that scientists at the University Of British Columbia have discovered three new species of the pseudotrichonympha genus in the guts of termites and named them P. leei, P. lifesoni, and P. pearti after Rush's Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart. "A Spanish postdoc, Javier del Campo, asked me to recommend some good Canadian music, and I suggested he listen to Rush," University Of British Columbia microbiologist Patrick Keeling explains in a statement. "He came back to me and said 'Those microbes we're finding have long hair like the guys on the album 2112!'" (The microbes have thousands of long flagella.) You can get all the sciencey details here, or just watch a video about the discovery for dummies like me below.