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Microbe Mat the Size of Greece Discovered In the Sea

Posted by kdawson on from the davy-jones's-blanket dept.

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "A mat of microbes the size of Greece has been discovered on the sea floor off the Pacific coast of South America. 'These tiny creatures can join together to create some of the largest masses of life on the planet... A single liter of seawater, once thought to contain about 100,000 microbes, can actually hold more than one billion microorganisms...'"

20 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. first psot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    At the bottom of the ocean is a good metaphor for Greece's economy right now!

  2. Microbe mat by AnotherAnonymousUser · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's not a bug, it's a fixture!

  3. Don't worry... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Funny

    The structure that looks surprisingly like a gigantic neural network is not, repeat not, the repository of a vast and vengeful consciousness of the murky deeps.

    Please carry on with your regularly scheduled consumption.

    1. Re:Don't worry... by blankinthefill · · Score: 2, Funny

      No, but it would be prefect cover for the REAL vast and vengeful consciousness of the murky deeps! I fear, my brethren, that we have found the storied Leviathan. The end is nigh, for soon is will shed its covering layer, and destroy us all! Lament and weep, for the end of days has come! (Well, not ME, actually, since it's aquatic, and I live in Colorado... but all the rest of you sea side slobs are doooooomed!)

  4. Is there economy better than Greece's? by davidwr · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hmmm???

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    1. Re:Is there economy better than Greece's? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      yes, there is.

  5. The real question is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    can I eat it?

  6. How can we trust you? by mister_playboy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Liar. Your user name implies you may be the avatar of this very consciousness!

    --
    Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law ::: Love is the law, love under will
    1. Re:How can we trust you? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2, Funny

      No, not that one. It'd be beneath my proud eukaryotic dignity to be housed in a gooey mass of prokaryotic pond scum, however large.

      You, er... might want to stay away from eastern Oregon, though.

  7. the size of Greece? by jothar+hillpeople · · Score: 5, Funny

    does this mean we will need to bail them out as well?

    1. Re:the size of Greece? by besalope · · Score: 4, Funny

      does this mean we will need to bail them out as well?

      That might be rough, I hear they have a lot of sunken assets.

  8. Comparison to Greece? by masmullin · · Score: 5, Funny

    has anyone seen a map of Greece with all it's crazy islands and jagged coasts? How can you compare the size of anything to that country

    Next time, compare vs something with a somewhat reasonable shape.

    like Saskatchewan damnit!

    1. Re:Comparison to Greece? by NewYorkCountryLawyer · · Score: 4, Funny

      Are you saying you, for one, welcome our country-sized microbe overlords?

      No. Of course not. What do you take me for?

      I'm saying these are the good microbes, who are our friends, and will help to protect us from the bad microbes who wish to be colonize, and ultimately devour, us.

      Your imagination is running riot. I wish you would calm down, and rely upon science, as I do.

      --
      Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
  9. Re:Plenty of (little) fish in the sea by Magic5Ball · · Score: 4, Funny

    More importantly there are plenty of unexplored function libraries in the 1 billion marine microbial species waiting to activate.

    --
    There are 1.1... kinds of people.
  10. That's no microbe mat... by dangitman · · Score: 1, Funny

    It's the lost city of Atlantis!

    --
    ... and then they built the supercollider.
  11. There's ... by PPH · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... a fungus among us.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  12. Re:Ray of Science by NewYorkCountryLawyer · · Score: 5, Funny

    What's this? A science story from NewYorkCountyLawyer?.....

    Actually there is a bit of evidence, not publicly available, which would support your theory that I may have been a little bit out of my element with this story:

    This was the first of my 232 stories that was actually improved by the Slashdot editor.

    --
    Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
  13. Subconscious influence by zogger · · Score: 5, Funny

    You probably picked this article to submit because of your daily dealings with other types of slime molds.

  14. Hurry! by arcite · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yang is building a planetbuster, we much achieve transcendence with planet before its too late! Move a foil ship to that microbe hex stat!

  15. No,the real question is by M8e · · Score: 3, Funny

    will it blend?