The article by Branda et al. explores the formation of fruiting bodies in *Bacillus subtilis*, a bacterium known for its spore formation. Traditionally, spore formation has been studied as a single-cell process, but the authors found that in the context of biofilms, spore formation exhibits unexpected spatial organization. Initially, motile cells form aligned chains that eventually produce aerial structures, or fruiting bodies, which serve as preferred sites for sporulation. This process depends on regulatory genes required early in sporulation and genes involved in exopolysaccharide and surfactin production. The formation of these aerial structures was robust in natural isolates but not in laboratory strains, suggesting that multicellularity has been lost during the domestication of *B. subtilis*. The study also highlights that other microbial differentiation processes, previously thought to involve only single cells, can display multicellular characteristics when studied with natural isolates. The authors conclude that microbial communities often exhibit multicellular behaviors, and that many microbial developmental processes may be more complex than previously thought when observed in structured communities like biofilms.The article by Branda et al. explores the formation of fruiting bodies in *Bacillus subtilis*, a bacterium known for its spore formation. Traditionally, spore formation has been studied as a single-cell process, but the authors found that in the context of biofilms, spore formation exhibits unexpected spatial organization. Initially, motile cells form aligned chains that eventually produce aerial structures, or fruiting bodies, which serve as preferred sites for sporulation. This process depends on regulatory genes required early in sporulation and genes involved in exopolysaccharide and surfactin production. The formation of these aerial structures was robust in natural isolates but not in laboratory strains, suggesting that multicellularity has been lost during the domestication of *B. subtilis*. The study also highlights that other microbial differentiation processes, previously thought to involve only single cells, can display multicellular characteristics when studied with natural isolates. The authors conclude that microbial communities often exhibit multicellular behaviors, and that many microbial developmental processes may be more complex than previously thought when observed in structured communities like biofilms.