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Title: 34,000-year-old bacteria discovered...and it's still alive
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Published: Jan 13, 2011
Author: CSM
Post Date: 2011-01-13 19:12:05 by tom007
Keywords: None
Views: 307
Comments: 23
34,000-year-old bacteria discovered...and it's still alive 34,000-year-old bacteria: The microbes were discovered in trapped inside tiny bubbles in salt crystals buried in Death Valley, in a state of suspended animation. By Andrea Mustain, OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer / January 13, 2011 It's a tale that has all the trappings of a cult 1960s sci-fi movie: Scientists bring back ancient salt crystals, dug up from deep below Death Valley for climate research. The sparkling crystals are carefully packed away until, years later, a young, unknown researcher takes a second look at the 34,000-year-old crystals and discovers, trapped inside, something strange. Something … alive. Skip to next paragraph * View gallery: Small animals of the world Related Stories * Arsenic microbe in Mono Lake may reshape hunt for extraterrestrial life * Yellowstone Lake yields thriving colony of life at bottom * Gulf oil spill study's surprising find: Bacteria ate methane in three months Thankfully this story doesn't end with the destruction of the human race, but with a satisfied scientist finishing his Ph.D. "It was actually a very big surprise to me," said Brian Schubert, who discovered ancient bacteria living within tiny, fluid-filled chambers inside the salt crystals. IN PICTURES: Tiny animals Salt crystals grow very quickly, imprisoning whatever happens to be floating — or living — nearby inside tiny bubbles just a few microns across, akin to naturally made, miniature snow-globes. "It's permanently sealed inside the salt, like little time capsules," said Tim Lowenstein, a professor in the geology department at Binghamton University and Schubert's advisor at the time. Lowenstein said new research indicates this process occurs in modern saline lakes, further backing up Schubert’s astounding discovery, which was first revealed about a year ago. The new findings, along with details of Schubert’s work, are published in the January 2011 edition of GSA Today, the publication of the Geological Society of America. Schubert, now an assistant researcher at the University of Hawaii, said the bacteria — a salt-loving sort still found on Earth today — were shrunken and small, and suspended in a kind of hibernation state. "They're alive, but they're not using any energy to swim around, they're not reproducing," Schubert told OurAmazingPlanet. "They're not doing anything at all except maintaining themselves." The key to the microbes' millennia-long survival may be their fellow captives — algae, of a group called Dunaliella. "The most exciting part to me was when we were able to identify the Dunaliella cells in there," Schubert said, "because there were hints that could be a food source." With the discovery of a potential energy source trapped alongside the bacteria, it has begun to emerge that, like an outlandish Dr. Seuss invention (hello, Who-ville), these tiny chambers could house entire, microscopic ecosystems. Other elderly bacteria? Schubert and Lowenstein are not the first to uncover organisms that are astonishingly long-lived. About a decade ago, there were claims of discoveries of 250-million-year-old bacteria. The results weren't reproduced, and remain controversial. Schubert, however, was able to reproduce his results. Not only did he grow the same organisms again in his own lab, he sent crystals to another lab, which then got the same results. "So this wasn’t something that was just a contaminant from our lab," Schubert said. Survival strategy The next step for researchers is to figure out how the microbes, suspended in a starvation-survival mode for so many thousands of years, managed to stay viable. "We're not sure what's going on," Lowenstein said. "They need to be able to repair DNA, because DNA degrades with time." Schubert said the microbes took about two-and-a-half months to "wake up" out of their survival state before they started to reproduce, behavior that has been previously documented in bacteria, and a strategy that certainly makes sense. "It's 34,000 years old and it has a kid," Schubert said. And ironically, once that happens, the new bacteria are, of course, entirely modern. Of the 900 crystal samples Schubert tested, only five produced living bacteria. However, Schubert said, microbes are picky. Most organisms can't be cultured in the lab, so there could be many living microbes that just didn't like their new home enough to reproduce. Still, wasn't it exciting to discover what could be one of the oldest living organisms on the planet? "It worked out very well," Schubert said. IN PICTURES: Tiny animals * Strangest Places Where Life is Found * The Harshest Environments on Earth * Extremophiles: World's Weirdest Life Reach Andrea Mustain at amustain@techmedianetwork.com. Follow her on Twitter @AndreaMustain.
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#1. To: tom007 (#0)
Uh oh. Andromeda Strain.
"If ever this vast country is brought under a single government, it will be one of the most extensive corruption, indifferent and incapable of a wholesome care over so wide a spread of surface. This will not be borne, and you will have to choose between reform and revolution. If I know the spirit of this country, the one or the other is inevitable." - Thomas Jefferson
Amazing, and hopeful, discovery for us. Thanks.
Somewhere in Kenya, a village is missing its idiot.
LOL
Tough women come from New York, sweet women from Texas, prissy women from Southern California, but we NORTHERN CALIFORNIA WOMEN have fire & ice in our blood. We can ride 4-wheelers, be a princess, throw a left hook, pack heat, hunt with the men, bake a cake, love with passion, and if we have an opinion, you know you're going to hear it!! Hey no linky. Bummer.
Tough women come from New York, sweet women from Texas, prissy women from Southern California, but we NORTHERN CALIFORNIA WOMEN have fire & ice in our blood. We can ride 4-wheelers, be a princess, throw a left hook, pack heat, hunt with the men, bake a cake, love with passion, and if we have an opinion, you know you're going to hear it!! That giant sucking sound you hear is public servants rushing off to join microbe union.
"I am not one of those weak-spirited, sappy Americans who want to be liked by all the people around them. I don’t care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it." - William S Burroughs
I would've bet the farm that this was a story about Henry Kissinger or Abe Foxman.
I would classify them more like a virus, gorging on the juice of the host cell. How that for some de-humanzing? Don't let them near me, I'll type something even meaner!
"I am not one of those weak-spirited, sappy Americans who want to be liked by all the people around them. I don’t care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it." - William S Burroughs
I would classify them more like a virus, gorging on the juice of the host cell. How that for some de-humanzing? Don't let them near me, I'll type something even meaner! I tend toward thinking of them as a flesh eating fungus.
"“Believe nothing merely because you have been told it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings - that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide.” ~ Gautama Siddhartha — The Buddha
If they come from spores, that may suggest an extra-terrestrial origin. I've read that viruses can also live in space. None of this explains the unholy longevity of David Rockefeller.
"I am not one of those weak-spirited, sappy Americans who want to be liked by all the people around them. I don’t care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it." - William S Burroughs
EEEEEEEK! BLOOD LIBEL! Suck on that Abe!
Did you watch JEOPARDY tonight? Double Jeopardy, Daily Double, for $2000 Answer...... ODIN!!!!
"The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally — not a 20 percent traitor" - Ronald Reagan
ODIN!!!! WRONG! Who is ODIN!!!!?
Did anyone ask the correct question?
"I am not one of those weak-spirited, sappy Americans who want to be liked by all the people around them. I don’t care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it." - William S Burroughs
And what was the answer?
Don't pull that anti-semantic crap on me, yokel!
"I am not one of those weak-spirited, sappy Americans who want to be liked by all the people around them. I don’t care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it." - William S Burroughs
See? This is why I never watch TeeVee. Nuthin' but trouble.
Ever notice how those around him look like they have had their soul eaten?
"“Believe nothing merely because you have been told it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings - that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide.” ~ Gautama Siddhartha — The Buddha
Who is ODIN!!!!? got me.
"The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally — not a 20 percent traitor" - Ronald Reagan
You bet
"The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally — not a 20 percent traitor" - Ronald Reagan
Christian Science Monitor.
Yeah I found it.
Tough women come from New York, sweet women from Texas, prissy women from Southern California, but we NORTHERN CALIFORNIA WOMEN have fire & ice in our blood. We can ride 4-wheelers, be a princess, throw a left hook, pack heat, hunt with the men, bake a cake, love with passion, and if we have an opinion, you know you're going to hear it!! Your little nigger Allan West got me bounched from FR
"The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally — not a 20 percent traitor" - Ronald Reagan
#2. To: tom007 (#0)
#3. To: Turtle, Armadillo, abraxas (#1)
Uh oh. Andromeda Strain.
#4. To: tom007 (#0)
#5. To: tom007 (#0)
"They're alive, but they're not using any energy to swim around, they're not reproducing," Schubert told OurAmazingPlanet. "They're not doing anything at all except maintaining themselves."
#6. To: tom007 (#0)
34,000-year-old bacteria discovered...and it's still alive
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#7. To: Esso (#6)
I would've bet the farm that this was a story about Henry Kissinger or Abe Foxman.
#8. To: Dakmar, Esso (#7)
I would've bet the farm that this was a story about Henry Kissinger or Abe Foxman.
#9. To: Original_Intent (#8)
#10. To: Original_Intent (#8)
flesh eating fungus
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#11. To: Original_Intent, Dakmar, Esso, Stick To Disinformation (#8)
Don't let them near me, I'll type something even meaner!
#12. To: Flintlock (#11)
Answer......
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#13. To: Esso, Flintlock (#12)
#14. To: Dakmar, Flintlock (#13)
(Edited)
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#15. To: Esso (#14)
#16. To: Dakmar (#15)
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#17. To: Dakmar (#9)
If they come from spores, that may suggest an extra-terrestrial origin. I've read that viruses can also live in space. None of this explains the unholy longevity of David Rockefeller.
#18. To: Esso (#12)
WRONG!
#19. To: Dakmar (#13)
Did anyone ask the correct question?
#20. To: farmfriend (#4)
"Satan / Cheney in "08" 
#21. To: tom007 (#20)
Christian Science Monitor.
#22. To: Esso (#12)
#23. To: Stick To Disinformation (#22)
Your little nigger Allan West got me bounched from FR
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