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New Bacterium Lives On Caffeine

Kozar_The_Malignant writes "A newly-described species of bacterium, Pseudomonas putida has been found to live on pure caffeine. The little jaspers metabolize caffeine into carbon dioxide and ammonia. They were found living in a flower bed on the University of Iowa campus, not in the drain of an espresso machine as one might expect. The paper presenting the research will be presented at the American Society for Microbiology meeting in New Orleans this month where caffeine metabolism will have to contend with the traditional ethanol metabolism."

25 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. We must be related by toygeek · · Score: 5, Funny

    But when I ingest caffeine it just makes my pee smell like coffee.

  2. Hard to Find at First by tarsi210 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Word is they were pretty hard to find at first, on account of them vibrating right off the slide.

  3. There's also a slime mold that lives on caffeine. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's called the Sales Department.

  4. But... by MrEricSir · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...are they good programmers?

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    There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
    1. Re:But... by illumastorm · · Score: 2

      Not really, but they are great at geometric expansion problems

    2. Re:But... by MachDelta · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, but they don't need to be. This is the million-monkeys problem: I'm sure a few trillion bacteria would eventually crank out better code than the mouth-breathing jackass two cubicles over.

  5. Oh? by blair1q · · Score: 2

    And what does its close cousin, Pseudomonas Pendejo, live on?

  6. Of course you know, this means war. by rebelwarlock · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You can't just go around metabolizing people's caffeine and expect no retribution. We need that caffeine to survive boring meetings.

  7. Nuuuuuu! by osu-neko · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Kill it! Kill it with fire! It must be stopped! Don't let it take our caffeine!

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    "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
  8. If they could just get the loop by Bodhammer · · Score: 2

    If they could just get the metabolism loop the run on caffeine in the daylight and feed into the alcohol metabolism at night I would be in heaven!

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    "I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
  9. Re:Great by digitig · · Score: 4, Funny

    Fizzy ammonia doesn't do it for me.

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    Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
  10. Not very nice! by bryan1945 · · Score: 2

    They shouldn't be calling coders bacteria. Plus, they forgot pizza!

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    Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
  11. Get Back! by Cylix · · Score: 3, Funny

    Stay away from my precious!

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    "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
  12. Oblig by ic3p1ck · · Score: 2

    I, for one, welcome our caffiene metabolizing bacteria overlords...

  13. better "department" by corbettw · · Score: 4, Funny

    from the spit-it-out-you-wee-bastard department

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    God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
  14. P. putida is definitely NOT a "new species." by mevans86 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Come on, Slashdot! Pseudomonas putida is not new! Chemists have been using it for the biochemical oxidation of aromatic compounds for decades. The CBB5 designator, as boring as it is, is the new species identifier.

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    "One swallows the lie that flatters, but sips the bitter truth drop by drop." --Diderot
  15. Perpetual Percolation by ArcCoyote · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So how much heat can these little guys produce metabolizing caffeine? Because if it's substantial, you could feed them coffee grounds, and use the heat to power a coffee machine...

  16. Re:Great by demonlapin · · Score: 3, Informative

    Methylene chloride does the job quite well, with minimal effect on taste, but some people get scared when they hear that a solvent has touched their coffee beans (never mind that it's long gone). As a result, decaf often is processed by some crappy extraction method. If you can get the real solvent stuff, it's quite good. Heck, you could even make your own... and once you pour off the methylene chloride, you can rotovap it and extract your caffeine for when you need it. (If you've got a liquid nitrogen trap, you can even recover the methylene chloride this way.)

  17. Re:Great by X0563511 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I have a hard enough time even bothering to use my bean grinder!

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    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  18. Re:Newly described by demonlapin · · Score: 2

    A hyphen is used to separate multiple adjectives when they modify the same noun.

    Nitpick: in the phrase "fifteen-minute presentations", the words fifteen and minute are not adjectives that both modify "presentations". "Fifteen-minute", as a phrase, consists of two nouns functioning as a single adjectival phrase to describe yet another noun, "presentations". In construction, this is quite similar to an ablative absolute in Latin, although the lack of case in English nouns and the corresponding use of English words as multiple parts of speech makes the situation murky. Ask a linguist. Also, "fifteen minute presentations" is inherently ambiguous unless referring to 15 physically small presentations. One should use either "fifteen-minute presentations" or "fifteen one-minute presentations".

    One might also point out that while the meaning of "newly described species" is unambiguous without the hyphen, its inclusion may assist the reader in quickly drawing the connection between the words, and thus be an appropriate stylistic device despite being grammatically unnecessary.

    Oh, and it's your turn.

  19. Re:Great by adamofgreyskull · · Score: 2

    Good. If you grind your bean too often you'll go blind.

  20. Re:Great by sjames · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why would you need a liquid nitrogen trap? Methylene chloride boils at 39 point something C.

    Supercritical CO2 is a good solvent for decaffeination and presents no hazard of residue (even if the process gets screwed up) and better workplace safety.

  21. Re:Not really news by smitty97 · · Score: 2

    here in America, students live on beer and pizza

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    mod me funny
  22. Is it called... by macson_g · · Score: 3, Funny

    Softwarium Developerium?

  23. Math by pieisgood · · Score: 2

    They've found a whole species of future mathematicians, though probably not the best. If they survived on pure amphetamines we'd be on our way towards a mathematical revolution.

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    Eat sleep die