Abstract
A recently discovered new type of bacteria is raising eyebrows among microbiologists, organic chemists, and environmental scientists. Their unique properties are creating research challenges in nitrogen chemistry and membrane structure. They efficiently perform a chemical operation that was thought to be impossible - conversion of ammonia to pure nitrogen in the absence of oxygen (see figure 1 and 2). These bacteria are named after their distinctive metabolism as 'anammox', which is short for 'anaerobic ammonia oxidation'. It is being suggested that they show how life evolved in the early earth by providing a link between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. However, on closer inspection, their unique features make them fit in better with a creationist view of the microbial world.