34,000-Year-Old Organisms Found Buried Alive

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34,000-Year-Old Organisms Found Buried Alive

Posted by Soulskill on Friday January 14, 2011 @06:37AM from the ceti-alpha-five-not-involved dept.

cold fjord writes "A scientist has made a weird and wonderful find. 'It's a tale that has all the trappings of a cult 1960s sci-fi movie: Scientists bring back ancient salt crystals, dug up from deep below Death Valley for climate research. The sparkling crystals are carefully packed away until, years later, a young, unknown researcher takes a second look at the 34,000-year-old crystals and discovers, trapped inside, something strange. Something... alive.' The Geological Society of America's current issue of GSA Today has the academic paper."

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*phew* by ArhcAngel · 2011-01-14 06:38 · Score: 1, Funny

Anyone else read 34,000 year old Orgasms?

--
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
1. Re:*phew* by durrr · 2011-01-14 06:52 · Score: 2
  
  I can't think of a better way to have spent the last 34 millennia.
2. Re:*phew* by Locke2005 · 2011-01-14 07:02 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Yeah, it's been about that long for me, too.
  
  --
  I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
3. Re:*phew* by Paracelcus · 2011-01-14 07:49 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah but the smell of her 34K Y/O cootch was more than my bottle of Nusbaum's Numb Nose could mask!
  
  --
  I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
4. Re:*phew* by ruthless+reader · 2011-01-14 07:50 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, it's been about that long for me, too.
  I'm guessing "They're alive, but they're not using any energy to swim around, they're not reproducing," part...
5. Re:*phew* by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 10:00 · Score: 1
  
  Please, Paracelsus, you should smell your wee wee.
6. Re:*phew* by mikael · 2011-01-14 10:31 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  "The first million years were the worst. The second million, they were the worst too. After that I went into a bit of a decline."
  
  --
  Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
7. Re:*phew* by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-15 00:25 · Score: 0
  
  Yeah, it's been about that long for me, too.
  If you're unable to reach orgasm, shall we say, manually, there are ways of helping yourself. At least for males, suitable porn should work well enough with the manual method most of the time. For females, a suitable vibrating stimulator may work better than porn, but you may have to experiment to find a good model, and your own correct way of using it. If this fails, please see a doctor. At least for males, potency drugs may help reaching orgasm even with masturbation.
tl;dr: by GoNINzo · 2011-01-14 06:39 · Score: 1

tl;dr: They found bacteria alive in salt crystals

--
Gonzo Granzeau
"Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you into heaven for.." -Roy Batty
1. Re:tl;dr: by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 06:49 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  They weren't bacteria, it's a single complex organism. Also, the scientists are Swedish I think...
2. Re:tl;dr: by SuiteSisterMary · 2011-01-14 06:51 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Step one for finding interesting life: look in places where you know damn well life cannot exist.
  
  --
  Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
3. Re:tl;dr: by $RANDOMLUSER · 2011-01-14 07:03 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  St. Louis, Missouri?
  
  --
  No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
4. Re:tl;dr: by somersault · 2011-01-14 07:19 · Score: 2
  
  No, I RTFA and there were at least bacteria and algae.
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
5. Re:tl;dr: by amliebsch · 2011-01-14 07:23 · Score: 1
  
  EAST St. Louis, Illinois.
  
  --
  If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
6. Re:tl;dr: by MikeDirnt69 · 2011-01-14 07:32 · Score: 1
  
  Slashdot
  
  --
  Am I eval()? - http://www.monst3r.com.br
7. Re:tl;dr: by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 07:41 · Score: 0
  
  Well, okay, we can probably rule out obvious places like that...
8. Re:tl;dr: by lostmongoose · 2011-01-14 07:46 · Score: 1
  
  Detroit
9. Re:tl;dr: by bhcompy · 2011-01-14 08:04 · Score: 1
  
  East Durndle would also be valid
10. Re:tl;dr: by kurt555gs · 2011-01-14 08:11 · Score: 1
  
  East St Louis! If I only had mod points.
  
  --
  * Carthago Delenda Est *
11. Re:tl;dr: by eepok · 2011-01-14 09:07 · Score: 0
  
  Actually, yes. =D
  Boiling deep sea volcanos, under-ice salt deposits. Life is good at living. Look where you least expect and you'll still likely find it... so long as we haven't screwed with the area yet.
12. Re:tl;dr: by BobMcD · 2011-01-14 09:15 · Score: 1
  
  "Hey, lay off those people in Detroit. They're living in Mad Max times! ... " - Moe Szyslak
13. Re:tl;dr: by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 10:16 · Score: 0
  
  They are not Swedish, they are Norwegian.
14. Re:tl;dr: by mikael · 2011-01-14 10:33 · Score: 1
  
  And they are pining for the fyords..
  
  --
  Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
15. Re:tl;dr: by Normal+Dan · 2011-01-14 11:02 · Score: 2
  
  My pants?
  
  --
  A unique way to learn a language: http://languageloom.com
16. Re:tl;dr: by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 15:17 · Score: 0
  
  Detroit.
17. Re:tl;dr: by cold+fjord · 2011-01-14 17:38 · Score: 1
  
  And they are pining for the fyords..
  That's fjords. :)
  
  --
  much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
silicon life? by alphatel · 2011-01-14 06:42 · Score: 4, Funny

It calls itself a horta!

--
When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
1. Re:silicon life? by durrr · 2011-01-14 06:53 · Score: 1
  
  And it gives spider legs to decapitated heads.
2. Re:silicon life? by idontgno · 2011-01-14 06:56 · Score: 1
  
  NO KILL I
  Dammit, Slashdot, I'm a poster, not a doctor. It's not my fault that damn Horta is yelling.
  
  --
  Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
3. Re:silicon life? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 07:08 · Score: 1
  
  Sounds more like a Crystelline Entity...
4. Re:silicon life? by Darinbob · 2011-01-14 09:21 · Score: 1
  
  Never fall in love with a being made of pure silicone!
5. Re:silicon life? by icebike · 2011-01-14 11:32 · Score: 1
  
  It calls itself a horta!
  Dammit Jim, I'm a Doctor not a stonemason!
  
  --
  Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
6. Re:silicon life? by AP31R0N · 2011-01-15 05:11 · Score: 1
  
  UGLY BAG OF MOSTLY WATER
  hehe
  
  --
  Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
7. Re:silicon life? by cyclomedia · 2011-01-16 22:37 · Score: 1
  
  bricklayer
  
  --
  If you don't risk failure you don't risk success.
Obligatory by R3d+M3rcury · 2011-01-14 06:45 · Score: -1, Redundant

I, for one, welcome our new 34,000 year-old crystalline overlords...
1. Re:Obligatory by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 06:46 · Score: 0
  
  This isn't funny anymore!
2. Re:Obligatory by Shikaku · 2011-01-14 06:53 · Score: 2
  
  Neither is Slashdot, but we keep on coming here anyway.
  I wonder why...
3. Re:Obligatory by asnelt · 2011-01-14 06:54 · Score: 2
  
  Strange, I was about to post the exact same comment, character for character...
4. Re:Obligatory by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 07:12 · Score: 0
  
  Strange, I was about to mod you down too.
  Could this perhaps be a sign that this meme is getting the tiniest bit stale?
5. Re:Obligatory by Atzanteol · 2011-01-14 07:13 · Score: 0
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFixb6aDmuM
  
  --
  "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"
  
  - Charles Darwin
6. Re:Obligatory by lupinstel · 2011-01-14 07:14 · Score: 0
  
  I am in Soviet Russia so here Slashdot comes to me...you insensitive clod.
  
  --
  Don't blame me, I voted for Cthulhu.
7. Re:Obligatory by Atzanteol · 2011-01-14 07:14 · Score: 0
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFixb6aDmuM
  
  --
  "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"
  
  - Charles Darwin
8. Re:Obligatory by tom17 · 2011-01-14 07:18 · Score: 1
  
  RSS?
9. Re:Obligatory by somersault · 2011-01-14 07:22 · Score: 1
  
  Not that strange. It's the groupthink talking for ya.
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
10. Re:Obligatory by techoi · 2011-01-14 07:32 · Score: 1
  
  I disagree. And I, for one, welcome our ACs that don't know from funny.
11. Re:Obligatory by holymartyr75 · 2011-01-14 07:59 · Score: 1
  
  So is calling something a "meme"
12. Re:Obligatory by hesiod · 2011-01-14 08:11 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, Russo-Soviet Subscription.
13. Re:Obligatory by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 08:50 · Score: 0
  
  So is putting a widely-used and easily-comprehensible term in "scare quotes".
14. Re:Obligatory by omnichad · 2011-01-14 09:08 · Score: 1
  
  I, for one, wish I had mod points!
15. Re:Obligatory by asnelt · 2011-01-14 09:22 · Score: 1
  
  Either that, or this loosed organism is already messing with our heads. I say, KILL IT!
Soon afterwards ... by Archangel+Michael · 2011-01-14 06:46 · Score: 4, Funny

.. the young scientist was heard muttering ... "braaaaains"

--
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
1. Re:Soon afterwards ... by $RANDOMLUSER · 2011-01-14 06:52 · Score: 1
  
  Mmmmmmmmm. braaaaains. Om nom nom nom nom.
  
  --
  No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Obligatory by Even+on+Slashdot+FOE · 2011-01-14 06:46 · Score: -1, Redundant

I, for one, welcome our new ancient salt-loving bacteria overlords.
Mebbe by JustOK · 2011-01-14 06:49 · Score: 4, Funny

Mebbe they were put there for a reason! DEAR GOD!! YOU'VE LET THEM OUT!

--
rewriting history since 2109
1. Re:Mebbe by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 12:50 · Score: 0
  
  We all know they were put there to trick us. Bible taught you that life started only 2010 years ago.
2. Re:Mebbe by Neil+Boekend · 2011-01-17 01:22 · Score: 1
  
  nope, 4000 years before that.
  If your bullshit detector is offline (or has a IRQ conflict) you may be lead to believe there were some things before Jesus. Like Sodom and Gomorrah.
  
  --
  Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
CNN reports by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 06:49 · Score: 5, Funny

After their amazing rescue the bacteria were interviewed by Anderson Cooper. The bacteria expressed their thanks for being rescued from their 34,000 years of imprisonment in a salt tomb in Death Valley. It's a miracle all the bacteria survived for the full 34,000 years and the bacteria thanked God for keeping them alive and their rescue. When asked what they planned to do all replied, "We're going to Disneyland!" The bacteria are expected to put in an appearance on the new Oprah network next week and have been offered their own reality series.
1. Re:CNN reports by Bobakitoo · 2011-01-14 07:01 · Score: 2
  
  CNN reports? I thought i was reading an excerpt from the Onion.
2. Re:CNN reports by BJ_Covert_Action · 2011-01-14 07:02 · Score: 1
  
  Meh, watching bacteria sit in a hibernation state for 34,000 years would still be more entertaining twenty minutes of Jersey Shore. It's kind of like how Purgatory is better than Hell, even those it's incredibly uneventful.
  
  --
  Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
3. Re:CNN reports by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 07:06 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  First I laughed.
  Then, I appreciated the cultural satire with some envy of the other AC for doing it brilliantly.
  Then, I shook my head in disgust because of the truth of it.
  Then, I imagined one of the bacteria insisting on being referred to as "The Bacteria" (showing off his well defined flagella) and another one being "Bact-Wow" and yet another one (the fat one with too much makeup on its pili) being called "Pookie".
4. Re:CNN reports by operagost · 2011-01-14 07:07 · Score: 0
  
  MSNBC reports that hate speech on talk radio resulted in their 34,000 year imprisonment. Democrats in Congress propose banning salt.
  
  --
  
  Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
5. Re:CNN reports by peragrin · 2011-01-14 07:19 · Score: 1
  
  God couldn't have kept them alive for 34,000 years as the universe is only 6,000 years old because the creationists say it is.
  Only the devil could have planted them there.
  
  --
  i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
6. Re:CNN reports by Mitchell314 · 2011-01-14 07:24 · Score: 1
  
  What's the difference?
  
  --
  I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
7. Re:CNN reports by countSudoku() · 2011-01-14 07:25 · Score: 2
  
  And Fox News complained that this does not fall in line with their version of reality which only goes back 6000 years or so, and does not include dinosaurs. Praise fucking Jesus and be sure and get your Glenn Beck Survival Backpack with your Cash For Gold money! And stop posting pictures of Sarah Palin with a target on her face and a caption reading; "Dump your load here!" That would not be fair!
  
  --
  This is the NSA, we're gonna geet U h@x0r5! Also, what is a h@x0r5?
8. Re:CNN reports by noidentity · 2011-01-14 07:38 · Score: 1
  
  It's a miracle all the bacteria survived for the full 34,000 years and the bacteria thanked God for keeping them alive and their rescue.
  
  Which God did he thank that claims that Earth is that old?
9. Re:CNN reports by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 08:00 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  New earth creationists believe the earth is only 6000 yrs old.
  Not all creationists put an estimated age on the earth. Some of us think that it is just as preposterous as you do!
10. Re:CNN reports by sjames · 2011-01-14 09:01 · Score: 2
  
  The Onion gets it right occasionally?
11. Re:CNN reports by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 09:13 · Score: 0
  
  posting pictures of Sarah Palin with a target on her face and a caption reading; "Dump your load here!"
  this confuses me. Is this the English load or the American load? Either one is particularly disturbing.
12. Re:CNN reports by ShakaUVM · 2011-01-14 12:50 · Score: 1
  
  >>After their amazing rescue the bacteria were interviewed by Anderson Cooper.
  If it was Anderson Cooper, he'd probably immerse himself in the bacterial soup and talk about how it was eating him alive.
  And then a dog would walk up and lick him in the face.
13. Re:CNN reports by GNious · 2011-01-15 01:54 · Score: 1
  
  Praise fucking Jesus
  Baby Jesus did no such thing!
14. Re:CNN reports by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-15 02:57 · Score: 0
  
  Most famously: http://www.theonion.com/articles/bush-our-long-national-nightmare-of-peace-and-pros,464/
15. Re:CNN reports by Neil+Boekend · 2011-01-17 01:29 · Score: 1
  
  But God is almighty, so he could have created these bacteria with an lower C-14 carbon fraction so the scientist would be fooled into thinking they were 34000 yo. He would of course do this because only the really faithfull will survive the (zombi)Apocalypse. He is just to lazy to pick all their brains and find it out for real.
  
  --
  Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
I hope they didnt find what i think they found by jeffmeden · 2011-01-14 06:49 · Score: 1

As long as it wasn't the salt-withered but still-living body of Takezo Kensei, they can go ahead and resurrect whatever they want.
Specimen handling protocols by PPH · 2011-01-14 06:51 · Score: 4, Interesting

Any geo/biology wizards out there care to comment on whether the protocols for handling specimens intended for climate research are adequate to prevent biological contamination?
If the crystals were dated at 34,000 years, but somebody sneezed on them last week .....

--
Have gnu, will travel.
1. Re:Specimen handling protocols by oh_my_080980980 · 2011-01-14 07:04 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  The fact that they were trapped in salt would be the big clue.
2. Re:Specimen handling protocols by Takichi · 2011-01-14 07:08 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  FTA:
  
  Schubert and Lowenstein are not the first to uncover organisms that are astonishingly long-lived. About a decade ago, there were claims of discoveries of 250-million-year-old bacteria. The results weren't reproduced, and remain controversial. Schubert, however, was able to reproduce his results. Not only did he grow the same organisms again in his own lab, he sent crystals to another lab, which then got the same results. "So this wasn't something that was just a contaminant from our lab," Schubert said.
  The article also mentions that his original finding was about a year ago, but his work is actually being published now.
3. Re:Specimen handling protocols by poslfit · 2011-01-14 16:06 · Score: 1
  
  So, they're *34,001* years old. Get your story straight!
4. Re:Specimen handling protocols by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 23:14 · Score: 1
  
  A friend of mine is doing a lot of work with salt-tolerant bacteria, and she was telling me about the protocols for sterilising salt crystals a few days ago which she was going to use for some grit she had nabbed. Apparently it's pretty normal to dump them into salt-saturated 10M NaOH: because it is salt saturated the crystals of your sample won't dissolve keeping the innards intact, and the NaOH will sterilise the outside. You just have to handle them under the right conditions afterwards. Apaprently pure ethanol does the trick too.
  So as long as the samples were processed properly before they tried to get bacteria out of them contamination shouldn't be an issue.
5. Re:Specimen handling protocols by koona · 2011-01-15 01:28 · Score: 1
  
  FTFA = "Incubation under aerobic conditions for periods of up to 90 days led to the growth of cultures from five halite crystals"
  The crystal surfaces were exhaustively treated for external contaminants.
  These folks are doin their best to head off the, to be expected, objections.
  Have to come up with a better one I guess.
  >/ DOUGLAS
2012 by Mondorescue · 2011-01-14 06:52 · Score: 4, Funny

Suddenly the 2012 presidential election looks more interesting.
1. Re:2012 by Locke2005 · 2011-01-14 07:03 · Score: 2
  
  Why? Just because they finally have a candidate available that actually older than John McCain?
  
  --
  I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
2. Re:2012 by NatasRevol · 2011-01-14 07:20 · Score: 1
  
  At least this one will have more brains than Sarah Palin.
  What's Alaskan for redneck?
  
  --
  There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
3. Re:2012 by Crudely_Indecent · 2011-01-14 07:24 · Score: 1
  
  ...older than John McCain...
  No, because they have a candidate older than Ron Paul.
  
  --
  
  "Lame" - Galaxar
4. Re:2012 by ColdWetDog · 2011-01-14 07:40 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  What's Alaskan for redneck?
  Alaskan.
  
  --
  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Dissapointing! by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 06:53 · Score: 0

I was expecting a mammoth..
As you left me... as you left her.... by MobileTatsu-NJG · 2011-01-14 06:55 · Score: 4, Funny

34,000 years ago a tiny little voice was heard screaming KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!

--

"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
1. Re:As you left me... as you left her.... by Locke2005 · 2011-01-14 07:01 · Score: 1
  
  It's life, Jim, but not as we know it...
  
  --
  I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
"young, unknown researcher"? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 06:55 · Score: 0

If the researcher was unknown... how was their age "young" known. Or is everybody young compared to 34,000 year-old salt?
1. Re:"young, unknown researcher"? by $RANDOMLUSER · 2011-01-14 07:01 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Because only someone young (and foolish) would release something that's been entombed alive for 34,000 years.
  
  --
  No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
2. Re:"young, unknown researcher"? by Will.Woodhull · 2011-01-14 13:01 · Score: 1
  
  And yet the salt mines we've got scattered around all over the Earth have been doing this for a few hundred years, without any precautions at all.
  It is probably only a matter of time before salt mine flu gains as much recognition as swine flu and bird flu. Who knows what else lies pickled in the briny bubbles?
  
  --
  Will
Can someone send in Isaac Clark? by Drakkenmensch · 2011-01-14 06:56 · Score: 1

The facility is in bad need of repairs and isn't responding anymore.
Do not believe! by GodricL · 2011-01-14 06:56 · Score: 2, Informative

This is another test of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. By noodly decree, the earth is only 32,000 years old. His Meatballiness tests our faith with this blasphemy!
1. Re:Do not believe! by operagost · 2011-01-14 07:18 · Score: 0
  
  Trolls test my patience with stupidity.
  
  --
  
  Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
2. Re:Do not believe! by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 07:28 · Score: 0
  
  Flying Spaghetti Monster? Heresy!
  We all know that the Invisible Pink Unicorn is the only deity!
3. Re:Do not believe! by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 09:18 · Score: 0
  
  Amen to that!
Algae present as well by jeffliott · 2011-01-14 06:56 · Score: 4, Interesting

Missing from the summary is that there were algae present in the salt crystals as well, and that they likely contributed to the survivability of the bacteria. I'm really curious how the algae survived though!
1. Re:Algae present as well by Locke2005 · 2011-01-14 07:00 · Score: 1, Interesting
  
  Obviously the algae were living off of the remains of dead bacteria...
  
  --
  I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
2. Re:Algae present as well by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 07:02 · Score: 0
  
  But how did the bacteria survive?!?
3. Re:Algae present as well by Locke2005 · 2011-01-14 07:05 · Score: 1
  
  Ever heard of Ourobouros?
  
  --
  I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
4. Re:Algae present as well by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 07:07 · Score: 0
  
  They were living off of the remains of dead algae ...
5. Re:Algae present as well by Rude+Turnip · 2011-01-14 07:13 · Score: 2
  
  Our Rob or Ross?
  
  --
  Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
6. Re:Algae present as well by Yvan256 · 2011-01-14 07:29 · Score: 1
  
  But how did the algae survive?!?
7. Re:Algae present as well by XiY47 · 2011-01-14 08:35 · Score: 1
  
  I wish I could up-mod this as "Redundant."
8. Re:Algae present as well by Unkyjar · 2011-01-14 09:28 · Score: 1
  
  It didn't.
9. Re:Algae present as well by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 15:05 · Score: 0
  
  I'm really curious how the algae survived though!
  You're a very clever man. But it's turtles, all the way down.
10. Re:Algae present as well by koona · 2011-01-15 01:43 · Score: 1
  
  I'm not going back to the article, it is long, but I don't remember that any of the eukaryotes made it, only the prokaryotes, Bacteria and Archaea. Those few that were alive (0.04% of samples) are hypothesised to have survived,in a "starvation-survival" form, by using the glycol derived from decomposing Algae. /DOUGLAS
Skeptical by EnderDom · 2011-01-14 07:04 · Score: -1

I'm skeptical about this, where is the evidence that these organisms have been alive for 34,000. Why can't they have just been living, reproducing and dying for 34,000 years. If we found a unknown colony of humans in a cave that had been closed of for 34,000 years we wouldn't immediately assume they must have super-human longevity, we'd more likely think these a the great-great-etc-great-grandchildren of some idiot who got trapped in cave 34,000 years ago.
1. Re:Skeptical by Locke2005 · 2011-01-14 07:11 · Score: 2
  
  ... with his girlfriend.
  
  --
  I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
2. Re:Skeptical by geekoid · 2011-01-14 07:13 · Score: 2
  
  The paper discusses this very thing.
  How about reading it and the referenced papers?
  
  --
  The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
3. Re:Skeptical by EnderDom · 2011-01-14 07:15 · Score: 1
  
  I like how you assume the idiot is a man... But yeah he will be.
4. Re:Skeptical by snspdaarf · 2011-01-14 07:18 · Score: 1
  
  And they all have one eye
  
  --
  Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
5. Re:Skeptical by Local+ID10T · 2011-01-14 07:22 · Score: 1
  
  the great-great-etc-great-grandchildren of some idiot who got trapped in cave 34,000 years ago.
  If only he had stopped to ask for directions...
  
  --
  "You want to know how to help your kids? Leave them the fuck alone." -George Carlin
6. Re:Skeptical by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 07:32 · Score: 0
  
  Why can't they have just been living, reproducing and dying for 34,000 years.
  
  This might be a shock to you, but in order to reproduce, that requires reproduction!
  Since reproduction is ruled out, that means there are no offspring.
  This is the difference between science, which follows facts to support claims, compared to what ever it is you are doing...
7. Re:Skeptical by amRadioHed · 2011-01-14 11:42 · Score: 1
  
  The bacteria were dormant when discovered, think suspended animation. Being in that state prolonged existence is more likely then reproduction.
  
  --
  We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
An agent for the bacteria... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 07:04 · Score: 1

...also announced an upcoming series of ads for Geico featuring the little guys.
It's loose?!? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 07:05 · Score: 0

Damn, haven't any of you seen THE THING? (the movie, not your first date rape experience). This sucker is on the loose and it's gonna get everybody.
Time to get out the Kurt Russell and start whooping some ass!
Good, good. by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 07:08 · Score: 0

One more reason to think that "age" as a concept is fictitious. If the bacteria are alive after 34000 years, are they 34000 years old? Can human life extension do the same trick?
1. Re:Good, good. by TheCarp · 2011-01-14 10:26 · Score: 1
  
  Welll.... it does come down to some arbitrary distinctions. I would say that "age" like that of a human, is different from that of a single cell organism. Think of it... mitosis happens, two new copies of nuclear DNA exist... then the cell splits (I know, plenty of variation in the process....)... now...
  do we have one old cell and one new one? If so, which is the old one? Or two new cells? Or are they both the old cell? Here we can show the age of a cell to go all the way back to its lineal origin, or... to be new with each generation..... so yah.... in those terms, age is pretty arbitrary.
  On the other hand.... humans have a variable but fairly well defined life process that happens. We are not cells, we are just, mostly made up of them. Of course, I am completely leaving out any discussion of telomeres.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telomere which do indicate a sort of aging.
  
  --
  "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
2. Re:Good, good. by koona · 2011-01-15 02:02 · Score: 1
  
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9359000/9359075.stm
  Across northwestern North America, every example of a common peat moss called Sphagnum subnitens is genetically identical...
  That means every specimen can be traced back to a single parent, which likely conquered North America in less than 300 years... ...the same is not true in Europe, where a wide variety of S. subnitens mosses live.
  "All of the plants of S. subnitens in northwestern North America appear to have descended from just one parent," ...
  "100% of the gene pool was contributed by one individual."
  Genetically identical plants of S. subnitens range from coastal Oregon to the western Aleutian Islands, a distance of some 4115km.
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9359000/9359075.stm
  DOUGLAS
The unwashed masses... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 07:20 · Score: 0

Reading the comments on Yahoo! News are somewhat entertaining and disconcerting considering the high level of ignorance in there. I started clicking around to other science and political articles and it's amazing!
It has diminished my faith in people a few notches. I may have to become a super-villain and attempt a hard reboot of humanity.
1. Re:The unwashed masses... by ThatMegathronDude · 2011-01-14 09:51 · Score: 1
  
  Give it a few more days and you'll be so misanthropic that you decide that mankind should be left to wallow in its filth, undeserving of salvation.
Soviet Political Prisoners Eat Ancient Fauna by handy_vandal · 2011-01-14 07:21 · Score: 4, Interesting

In 1949 some friends and I came upon a noteworthy news item in Nature, a magazine of the Academy of Sciences. It reported in tiny type that in the course of excavations on the Kolyma River a subterranean ice lens had been discovered which was actually a frozen stream - and in it were found frozen specimens of prehistoric fauna some tens of thousands of years old. Whether fish or salamander, these were preseved in so fresh a state, the scientific correspondent reported, that those present immediately broke open the ice encasing the specimens and devoured them with relish on the spot.
The magazine no doubt astonished its small audience with the news of how successfully the flesh of fish could be kept fresh in a frozen state. But few, indeed, among its readers were able to decipher the genuine and heroic meaning of this incautious report.
As for us, however - we understood instantly. We could picture the entrire scene right down to the smallest details: how those present broke up the ice in frenzied haste; how, flouting the higher claims of ichthyology and elbowing each other to be first, they tore off chunks of the prehistoric flesh and hauled them over to the bonfire to thaw them out and bolt them down.
We understood because we ourselves were the same kind of people as those present at that event. We, too were from that powerful tribe of Zeks, unique on the face of the earth, the only people who could devour prehistoric salamander with relish.

From the Preface to The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn

--
-kgj
1. Re:Soviet Political Prisoners Eat Ancient Fauna by Raenex · 2011-01-15 01:34 · Score: 1
  
  [Fry ate an alien mummy thinking it was jerky] "My God, this is an outrage! I was going to eat that mummy."
  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0756882/quotes
2. Re:Soviet Political Prisoners Eat Ancient Fauna by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-15 05:40 · Score: 0
  
  The guy is truly pathetic in his quest to sensationalize.
  Fuck, he was working for administration of a said GULAG. While being a prisoner.
Racist by WED+Fan · 2011-01-14 07:31 · Score: 0

That was highly racist!

--
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
1. Re:Racist by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 07:51 · Score: 0
  
  Doesn't make it not true!
  Zing...
2. Re:Racist by BassMan449 · 2011-01-14 07:53 · Score: 1
  
  Did he say anything about anyone skin? All I see is the name of a city. St. Louis MO can be pretty bad, but East St Louis IL is much worse. It's an observable fact and there is nothing racist about it.
3. Re:Racist by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 11:09 · Score: 0
  
  And funny, yo.
4. Re:Racist by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 11:30 · Score: 0
  
  So now you play the race card? IF someone said something about white trash you would be loling.
5. Re:Racist by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-15 14:53 · Score: 0
  
  Jared Lee Loughner is a cool white trashy rednecKKK guy, he kills anyone because of grammar and he's not afraid of anything.
  
  there, he can lol now.
New Overlords? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 07:34 · Score: -1

I for one welcome out new salt bacteria overlords.
Nauls: Maybe we're at war with Norway? by circletimessquare · 2011-01-14 07:58 · Score: 3, Insightful

MacReady: I dunno, it's like this: thousands of years ago this spaceship crashes, and this thing, whatever it is, jumps out or crawls out and gets entombed in the ice.
Garry: So, the Norwegians find it, and they dig it out of the ice...
MacReady: That's right, Garry. They dig it up, they cart it back to their base. Somehow it gets thawed, it wakes up, probaly not the best of moods, and... I don't know, I wasn't there!

--
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
1. Re:Nauls: Maybe we're at war with Norway? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 09:21 · Score: 0
  
  MacReady: Anybody there? Hey Sweden!! Dr. Copper: They're not Swedish, Mac, they're Norwegian.
Comma! by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 08:02 · Score: 0

Found buried, alive (as in buried and alive, not buried alive).
Grammar nazi out!
1. Re:Comma! by Captain+Hook · 2011-01-14 08:22 · Score: 1
  
  if it's "buried and alive", doesn't that suggest it was "buried alive" in the first place, unless of course it resuscitated itself after it was buried dead...
  
  --
  These comments are my personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the other voices in my head.
really??? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 08:37 · Score: 0

Are we seriously left to linking to stories off yahoo now? Wtf is happening to this site? How about at least linking to the original story! livescience.com you lazy people
Death Valley Expansion Pack by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 08:41 · Score: 0

Imprisoned for thirty four thousand years... Banished from their own homeland... And now you dare enter their realm? You are not prepared. ...
1. Re:Death Valley Expansion Pack by soundscape · 2011-01-14 13:45 · Score: 1
  
  Arthas... Wait, what?
Hookem by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 08:48 · Score: 0

Isn't this the same story about how Oklahoma was discovered? Oh, wait, I'm mistaken, they also found culture in this latest discovery.
Meme me by Tetsujin · 2011-01-14 08:52 · Score: 1

So is calling something a "meme"
I'd be happy to stop calling things "memes" but calling them "retarded internet running gags" seems a tad harsh...

--
Bow-ties are cool.
1. Re:Meme me by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 16:53 · Score: 0
  
  I'd be happy to stop calling things "memes" but calling them "retarded internet running gags" seems nowhere near harsh enough...
  
  FTFY.
One time digging in my yard... by trailerparkcassanova · 2011-01-14 09:08 · Score: 1

I dug up some earthworms. Holy cow, they were BURIED ALIVE!!!
http://www.khaaan.com/ by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 09:11 · Score: 0

http://www.khaaan.com/
end of the blob by hesaigo999ca · 2011-01-14 09:15 · Score: 1

The movie the blob ends with this being sent into the deepest ocean arctic waters. Is this something like minded which is in temporal status, and could come back to life like a bug or what not...
They looked inside, what they found was horrific by roman_mir · 2011-01-14 09:26 · Score: 0

They looked inside and what they unleashed has haunted the US politics for a while now.
It was John McCain

--
You can't handle the truth.
buried alive.... buried alive.... by petsounds · 2011-01-14 09:28 · Score: 0

KHAAANNN!!!
time to come up for air by prjames · 2011-01-14 10:51 · Score: 0

i really did read title wrong and it got my attention. time to come out of the basement methinks
There's more to this by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-14 17:26 · Score: 0

FTFA:

[Related: Mysterious green blob found in outer space]
Related? What are they hiding from us?
A Serious question! by MoeDumb · 2011-01-14 23:51 · Score: 1

I recently purchased and began seasoning my food with "Organic Himalayan Salt," sold through a well known vitamin company. Could I also be swallowing - (gulp) - ancient organisms? Could they possibly come to life and multiply in my GI tract -- and take over? Only salt of the earth types need reply.

--
Mod Me Up. You'll make a grown man cry.
xkcd: Desecration by handy_vandal · 2011-01-15 05:01 · Score: 1

"Remember last week when we dug up all those Indian bones and made puppets out of them?"

--
-kgj