34,000-Year-Old Organisms Found Buried Alive

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."

Comments

silicon life?

[alphatel]

It calls itself a horta!

Soon afterwards ...

[Archangel Michael]

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

Mebbe

[JustOK]

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

CNN reports

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:CNN reports

[Anonymous Coward]

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".

Specimen handling protocols

[PPH]

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 .....

Re:Specimen handling protocols

[Takichi]

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.

Re:tl;dr:

[SuiteSisterMary]

Step one for finding interesting life: look in places where you know damn well life cannot exist.

2012

[Mondorescue]

Suddenly the 2012 presidential election looks more interesting.

As you left me... as you left her....

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

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

Algae present as well

[jeffliott]

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!

Re:*phew*

[Locke2005]

Yeah, it's been about that long for me, too.

Soviet Political Prisoners Eat Ancient Fauna

[handy_vandal]

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