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Bacteria Found Alive In Ice 120,000 Years Old

Posted by kdawson on from the by-some-definitions-of-alive dept.

FiReaNGeL notes research presented this morning at Penn State on the discovery of a new, ultra-small species of bacteria that has survived for more than 120,000 years within the ice of a Greenland glacier at a depth of nearly two miles. From the psu.edu announcement: "The microorganism's ability to persist in this low-temperature, high-pressure, reduced-oxygen, and nutrient-poor habitat makes it particularly useful for studying how life, in general, can survive in a variety of extreme environments on Earth and possibly elsewhere in the solar system. This new species is among the ubiquitous, yet mysterious, ultra-small bacteria, which are so tiny that they are able to pass through microbiological filters. Called Chryseobacterium greenlandensis, the species is related genetically to certain bacteria found in fish, marine mud, and the roots of some plants."

3 of 326 comments (clear)

  1. Survival in a harsh environment by mypalmike · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    The microorganism's ability to persist in this low-temperature, high-pressure, reduced-oxygen, and nutrient-poor habitat makes it particularly useful for studying how life, in general, can survive in a variety of extreme environments on Earth and possibly elsewhere in the solar system.

    Sounds like my cubicle at work.

    --
    There are 0x40000000 types of people: those who understand 32-bit IEEE 754 floating point, and those who don't.
  2. Vote John McCain For President +1, PatRIOTic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic



    and let the MIlitary-Industrial-Congressional Complex finish the contract ON America.

    Cheers,
    Kilgore Trout

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