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Life Confirmed At Extreme Depths
SEWilco writes "A few years ago the life forms around deep-ocean thermal vents were a surprise. Now ancient bacteria alive in rock 2 miles down have been found. The story is in the San Francisco Chronicle. It is also at Nature.Com, but that server is already rejecting connects. Other bacteria survived frozen in the pressures of an ocean 100 miles deep. This increases the known limits of where life can exist on any planet. Thomas Gold undoubtedly is not surprised at hot, deep bacteria living on hydrogen."
It is also at Nature.Com, but that server is already rejecting connects.
Life always finds a way to survive. Now, evolution has provided us with a website that can anticipate and avoid the slashdot effect.
"Life Confirmed At Extreme Depths"
For some reason I thought this story was going to be about Slashdot.
this proves nothing that wasn't proven to any thinking person before.
Except, of course, that life has been found so deep in the earth.
now maybe they'll find life on uranus...
ok, not funny, but it had to be said.
truly amazing. next thing you know, they will discover a silicon based life form (besides pamala anderson), and call in mulder and scully...wait...i already saw that episode...
-frozen
I'm not always the brightest pixel in the stream
I am alive in the piles miles and miles deep of dirty clothes and dishes in my room...
Uh, RTFA?
-- Other bacteria, frozen into chunks of ice in a Washington laboratory, have thrived inside a high-pressure container and went right on reproducing after they were exposed to pressures equivalent to life at the bottom of an ocean 100 miles deep.
Oh, right. Forgot that no one reads the article anymore...
m-
You catch enchiladas by picking them up behind the head and holding them underwater until they don't kick anymore -VeGas
Didn't they make a movie (or ten, plus a few X-Files episodes) about this:
The food supply is so sparse that the bugs reproduce maybe only once in a thousand, or perhaps even a million years. That means organisms the scientists are seeing today have had little opportunity to change since the earliest history of life on earth.
Allow me to be the first to put a paranoid spin on the whole issue... where a microbe has lain nearly dormant for 65 million years, living on the odd hydrogen atom, patiently waiting for its chance to do for humankind what it did for the dinosaurs. Nobody is safe this time!
Ok, now that I've exercised my paranoia... I'll calm myself with the knowledge that any bug that has evolved to metabolize the odd hydrogen atom would probably burn up (metabolically speaking) in a highly corrosive atmosphere, such as one containing a whopping 20% oxygen.
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
Could this be a landmark case of quantum theory manifesting itself in our macroscopic world? No, I'm not talking about the bacteria, let me quote from above:
> It is also at Nature.Com, but that server is already rejecting connects.
Effect preceeding Cause -- a server going down just *before* being Slashdotted. What's next, "first posts" before the topic is up? Stories repeated before they're posted in the first place? Dogs and cats living together?!
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
Jules Verne wrote of life way beneath the surface of the Earth!!
Geez... some news flash... it's only 131 years late!
Humans (which I am one)
You KNOW you're hanging out at the wrong forum when someone has to preface their comment with THAT.
Am I the only one that sees the link between that bbc article and Lovecraft's Mountains of Madness?
Giant cavity beneath ice in the middle of antarctica, surrounded by mountain ranges, and previously unknown lifeforms, millions of years old, evolved separately from the life on the rest of the planet. How long until we meet the Elders?
I recommend the book to everyone, really good one.
The oil they're pushing up at us is part of a deliberate plot.
With an infinite supply of oil, we'll soon burn out way into a cataclysmic Greenhouse Effect that will turn the Earth into a moist version of Venus, allowing them to colonize the surface.
You've been warned!
Stefan
More subterranean bacteria au gratin, honey?
Yes, Please!
The libertarian solution to the failures of capitalism is to apply more capitalism til the failures are fixed.
This is another argument in favor of extra-terrestrial life. IMHO, it is very likely there's life out there. However, it could be so radically different than ours that not only it would be pretty much impossible for "us" to communicate with "them", but also we wouldn't even recognize each other as life!
"Houston, we are landing on big rock number one, as planned... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... contact."
(Days later)
"Ok, Houston, we are ready to depart. Our tests show no signs of life. We are coming back."
(One hundred years later)
"Ouch! Mom, I think something just scratched my back."
(Two hundres years later)
"Hmm, I don't see anything. You've probably just imagined it. Come on dear, it's time for your nap. I'll wake you up in 360 millenia, when dinner is ready."
/* TAANSTAFL */
On the Jerry Springer Show, life was confirmed at extreme shallows.
Your courageous and selfless spelling corrections have made me a better person.
All these Germs are Yours
Except Sulphuropa
Attempt no minings there
Wash hands together
And cook on high heat
--"The perfect example of the man of action is the suicide." - William Carlos Williams
Bubba: "Anyway, like I was sayin', subterranean bacteria is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, sautee it. Dey's uh, subterranean bacteria-kabobs, subterranean bacteria creole, subterranean bacteria gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple subterranean bacteria, lemon subterranean bacteria, coconut subterranean bacteria, pepper subterranean bacteria, subterranean bacteria soup, subterranean bacteria stew, subterranean bacteria salad, subterranean bacteria and potatoes, subterranean bacteria burger, subterranean bacteria sandwich. That- that's about it."
SEWilco writes:
"...hot, deep bacteria..."
This sounds suspiciously like some of the bizarre porn spam I get...
My
Limekiller
Let's see, life that never sees the sun, never takes a shower, exists without any contact with the surface world...
/.
I'll bet you 2:1 that it's probably already maxed out it's karma on
(Probably has more accepted posts than me, too.)
-Styopa