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Revived Microbe May Hold Clues For ET Lifeforms
krou writes "Science Daily is reporting that a microbe, Herminiimonas glaciei, buried some 3 km under glacial ice in Greenland, and believed to have been frozen for some 120,000 years, has been brought back to life (abstract). The microbe, some ten to fifty times smaller than E. coli, was brought back over several months by slowly incubating it at gradually increasing temperatures. After 11.5 months, the microbe began to replicate. Scientists believe that it could help us understand how life may exist on other planets. Dr. Jennifer Loveland-Curtze, who headed up the team of scientists from Pennsylvania State University, said: 'These extremely cold environments are the best analogues of possible extraterrestrial habitats. ... [S]tudying these bacteria can provide insights into how cells can survive and even grow under extremely harsh conditions, such as temperatures down to -56C, little oxygen, low nutrients, high pressure and limited space.' She also added that it 'isn't a pathogen and is not harmful to humans, but it can pass through a 0.2 micron filter, which is the filter pore size commonly used in sterilization of fluids in laboratories and hospitals. If there are other ultra-small bacteria that are pathogens, then they could be present in solutions presumed to be sterile. In a clear solution very tiny cells might grow but not create the density sufficient to make the solution cloudy.'"
I for one welcome our new tiny frigid overlords. And for once I am not talking about my wife :(
1000s Warcraft Gold while you sleep
but it can pass through a 0.2 micron filter... If there are other ultra-small bacteria that are pathogens, then they could be present in solutions presumed to be sterile.
Okay, I'm sufficiently worried enough to get my tin hat.
Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
this posted yesterday?
Any chance we're going to get a new dinosaur out of this? I don't know about you, but I've been preparing to go to Jurassic park since I was 13.
two weeks after first infection...
But I hope they're being very careful with these things. Excited Chrichton-like sci-fi visions notwithstanding, we could easily get ourselves into a lot of trouble with things like these. And I'm not thinking about dinosaurs, but rather things like our collective genomes losing resistance to things that are supposed to have disappeared from our ecosystems.
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
Not to question her qualifications as a scientist or anything but I suspect that being a woman she forgot to account for shrinkage.
If you didn't come to party don't bother knocking on my door. Prince '1999'
Now bottled water from glaciers is suspect. I feel for these folks:
http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200906/1244408897.html
and these folks
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Luxury-Water-Utilities-Llc-864814.html
From the second one:
"Glacier water is superior to common water sources, because it is not filtered through the ground where a variety of dissolved solids and organic particles such as rocks, sand, metals, chemicals and underground pollutants can attach to each water molecule. It is essentially an exclusive worry-free water source â" clear of heavy chemicals, drug residues, jet fuel, toxins, dust particulates, etc. â" unlocked from glaciers that are over 10,000 years old. Not only will our clients be able to drink and bathe in this premium untainted water, they can also breathe indoor air that is hydrated or humidified with pollution-free water."
Drink up!
My present is the activity I am currently engaged in with the purpose of turning the future into a better past.
So it begins.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
I can't wait until "is not harmful to humans" turns into "wasn't supposed to be harmful to humans"
We should probably send their little frozen cousins on the moon a quick warning about the incoming NASA rocket!
Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
If this was 'brought back to life' (assuming the process was done by mere mortals), then it was never truly dead. It may have been dormant, in suspended animation, or beyond modern sciences' ability to detect life, but it certainly was not dead. Dead is what something is when it doesn't come back. And don't talk about 'my uncle died on the operating table three times...'. That's clinically dead, an altogether different thing.
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
It's just filtered tap water, so they're OK. All water supply companies lie about their source being some wonderful well, stream, or glacier, they really just buy it from the municipal supply water.
Altruism. It's a good idea. Too bad it's about as likely to work as manifesting things through pure force of will. Go take an economics class.
[disclaimer] I don't have much knowledge in this area [/disclaimer], but is it possible (not probable) that there is a danger that it could provoke an immune reaction? The article says it's not a pathogen, so I'm not worried that it's a threat, or that it would get in hollywood fashion out even in the very tiny tiny chance it was dangerous in anyway.
I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
i manifest a few loads of fecies every now and then, through sheer force of will... and i must say... its quite a gratifying act.
i wage a holy war against the apostrophe.
So ... does this mean that this bacterium is now the "oldest living thing"?
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
there are things worse than goblins in the depths of the world.M
"i lost my dignity on a slippery wiener"
Whatcouldpossiblygowrong.
Have gnu, will travel.
Whatcouldpossiblygowrong?
These things are now some of the smallest known biological systems. They're still too big to give us sufficient hints to the origin of life. It is hard to believe that there are not smaller biological systems out there waiting to be found. It has been suggested that Mars may still have some life on it deep underground and these may be more likely to be "closer" to the origin of life.. but maybe not. If not, that might imply that life didn't originate in our solar system and both Mars and Earth were seeded by extra-solar asteroids.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Oh, yeah. Oooh, ahhh, that's how it always starts. Then later there's running and screaming
It gripped her hand gently. 'Regret is for humans,' it said.
ah well, he's probably pining for the fjords.
Remarkably, a python quote which is actually topical! //Lovely plumage!
common cold now has 95% kill rate for mammals
the end of the world is coming
To say "..brought back to life" is, plainly an exhageration at best, and profound irresponsible hyperbole at worst: There is NO proof that anything was brought back to life! Yes, the team apparently observed aspects of metabolism but they note that at the extremely low temperatures and extremely high pressures existing at their normal habitat the specimens could have been doing the very same things, for thousands of years, but at a velocity so low as not to be appreciated. Bringing them 'up to temperature' certainly would increase likelihood that metabolism might increase enough to be measureable .. This seems more probable than to suggest that the specimens were not alive and then became living creatures once again.
To come 'back to life' suggests they were not at that point when their warming journey began. Shame on those who might use such journalistic tricks for any purpose!
"There are 11 kinds of people: those who know binary, those who don't, and those who could not care less!"
Altruism, it fails because of people like you. :-/
I'm not tossing out my zombie survival guide yet. We know nothing about it but it's harmless. *raises eyebrow*
I argue because it's the internet....and I can.
carbon dating is not used to date ice cores or live specimens. It is only used to date decaying organic matter
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I wonder, why those Scientists always think in such extremely limited ways?
As if the form of extraterrestrial life would even be close to genetics, cells, plants, animals and other lifeforms with hands, eyes, brains out or neurons, a head, etc.
They will not even see extraterrestrial life, when it sits/floats right in front of them.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Please don't forget the spot where you found it. We will have to bury it in the same spot if something goes bad. :D