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Iron-eating Bug Found to Thrive in 121C Heat

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the stranger-than-fiction dept.

shobadobs writes "A story in the Independent reports that a microorganism appropriately referred to as 'Strain 121' has been found capable of thriving, with its colony size doubling, at a heat of 121 degrees Celsius, eight degrees more than the previously recorded maximum temperature that an organism can survive. This deep-sea volcanic vent creature was found on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, and it feeds off of iron." Luckily it's only a microorganism. At first glance I thought scientists might have discovered a real-life rust monster.

16 of 375 comments (clear)

  1. Welcome by Phroggy · · Score: 5, Funny

    I, for one, welcome our new iron-eating overlords.

    --
    $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
    $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
    1. Re:Welcome by aug24 · · Score: 5, Funny
      Could you make yourself useful and round up humans to toil in their underground.... errr... iron mines...? Hey! That joke finally works!

      J.

      --
      You're only jealous cos the little penguins are talking to me.
    2. Re:Welcome by JimPooley · · Score: 4, Funny

      I, for one, am getting fucking sick and tired of that mindless misuse of a Kent Brockman quote...

      Mods: Let's have a new rating of "-10: Tired old joke" if you please!!!

      --

      "Information wants to be paid"
    3. Re:Welcome by Cylix · · Score: 5, Funny

      I, for one, welcome our new moderator overlords!

      --
      "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
  2. Fear my Aluminium Suit. by Channard · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hah! How those fools laughed when I made my aluminium hat and bacofoil suit to block out the CIA's space-rays. Yet I alone will be safe from the iron eating scourge while those naysayers struggle to hold their trousers up as their belts are eaten away by the iron-devouring scourge.

  3. Too bad Futurama has been canceled. by Rolo+Tomasi · · Score: 4, Funny

    This would be really great material for a new episode. Of course it would have to include the line "Bite my shiny iron-eating-bug-infested metal ass!". :o)

    --
    Did you know you can fertilize your lawn with used motor oil?
  4. How sex by vevva · · Score: 5, Funny

    Colonies doubling in size at 121C.

    Now that's what I call hot sex.

  5. Still fighting the Terminators by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Iron-eating bug found to thrive in 121C heat
    By Steve Connor Science Editor"

    I see that the son of Sarah is still researching ways to stop those pesky Terminators.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  6. Don't Worry About Them... by tds67 · · Score: 4, Funny
    ...worry about the predators that feed on them.

  7. Re:How High? by Pharmboy · · Score: 4, Funny

    If this little blighter is thriving at 121C, how high can it actually survive. The article mentions that temperatures in this guy's home top out at about 400C. How much heat can these guys actually take before cooking?

    And once you have cooked these little iron eating bugs, what kind of wine do you serve with them? Red or white?

    --
    Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
  8. Yakov's greatest joke by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yakov's greatest joke (or was it only great joke) was a take-off on the "American Express: Don't home without it" slogan that was used during the 80s:

    "Soviet Express: Don't leave home."

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  9. Not A Bug by Biomechanoid · · Score: 5, Funny

    Iron-eating Bug Found to Thrive in 121C Heat

    That's not a bug, that's a feature

  10. Re:Aren't most diseases microorganisms? by void+warranty() · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think the actual infection would be your smallest problem when swimming in 120 degrees water at several hundred atm pressure.

  11. Re:What comes out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ferrous Calciferous Lithium or (FeCaL(i)) Matter is what is produced.

  12. Re:Tota! by Theaetetus · · Score: 4, Funny
    They put Strain 121 in a hot oven to find that it enjoyed the experience - colonies continued to double in size at 121C.

    Citing a need to find out what other organisms 'enjoy hot ovens', researchers will be continuing their work, this time with kittens.

    ;)

    -T

  13. Now that's planning! Forethought! by HarveyBirdman · · Score: 4, Funny
    It will be the only organism left in the universe, trillions of years from now, when all the atoms are either fused or decayed to iron.

    Or maybe this happened once before, and the current universe is the product of Strain 121 excrement.

    Man, that's a really weird thought. Must be Friday.

    --
    --- Ban humanity.