Single Microbe May Have Triggered the "Great Dying"

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Single Microbe May Have Triggered the "Great Dying"

Posted by Unknown on Monday December 17, 2012 @08:05PM from the get-your-flu-shot dept.

An anonymous reader writes with an excerpt from Medical Daily about a new theory for what triggered the "Great Dying: " "Researchers believe that they may finally know why the event occurred, but the theory is not without controversy. There are several theories, including the possibility of a meteorite hitting the planet. Previously, most researchers believed that the Permian mass extinction was a result of a series of volcanic eruptions in what is now Siberia. ... However, Daniel Rothman from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is floating around a different theory. As he presented in a meeting for the American Geophysical Union, he believes that the mass extinction could have been caused by something much smaller. His theory is that the extinction was caused by a single strain of bacteria."

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The kaboom by Dexter+Herbivore · 2012-12-17 20:17 · Score: 5, Funny

But where's the Earth shattering kaboom? There's supposed to be an Earth shattering kaboom!
1. Re:The kaboom by bmo · 2012-12-17 21:36 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Obviously the Illudium Pu-36 Explosive Space Modulator was stolen by a rabbit.
  "It obstructs my view of Venus"
  --
  BMO
And it could also have been... by dohzer · 2012-12-17 20:44 · Score: 2, Funny

By reading the Wikipedia article, I have determined that it also may have been:
- A single rock
- A single volcano
- The build-up of a single type of gas
- The rising of a single body of water
- Lack of a single element in the water
It's not the size of the organism by maweki · 2012-12-17 21:50 · Score: 5, Funny

it's how you mass-extinct with it.
Re:Second post. by Bearhouse · 2012-12-17 22:26 · Score: 2, Funny

*sigh*
Quite complaining & get nerding.
As repeated many, many times here, install Adblock, Noscript...
And/or load up your Hosts file...
Or contribute enough, get good karma, and /. lets you turn the ads off
Re:A whole strain? by marcello_dl · 2012-12-18 00:58 · Score: 4, Funny

> The headline made me think that this guy somehow had it narrowed down to one actual organism.
That is difficult to envision, Chuck Norris was born so much later.

--
---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
Re:Jay Gould by Migraineman · 2012-12-18 02:53 · Score: 3, Funny

Once you have successfully accomplished the "sex" objective, the "sleep" objective moves abruptly to the front of the list (as your offspring will deprive you of any opportunities to do so.)
Re:A whole strain? by Hognoxious · 2012-12-18 02:54 · Score: 4, Funny

Chuck Norris doesn't evolve.
He doesn't need to - ecosystems adapt to him.

--
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Re:Jay Gould by VoidCrow · 2012-12-18 04:22 · Score: 4, Funny

It's the ultimate measure of biomass.