Scientists from the UK and Switzerland have investigated the remarkable distance that microorganisms may be able to blow between continents, raising questions about their potential to colonise new lands and also potentially to spread diseases.

The researchers from Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) and the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) the University of Neuchatel published their results in the Journal of Biogeography this month. They used large computer models of the Earth's atmosphere to study how widely microbes could be dispersed.

LJMU's Dr Dave Wilkinson led the team along with Symeon Koumoutsaris, from the International Space Science Institute in Bern, who modified computer models which were designed for studying the dispersal of dust particles.

They looked at what would happen if they released virtual microbes from both the southern tip of South America and also from Mexico. Once airborne, microbes of 0.02mm in diameter and below can easily travel thousands of kilometres.....