Posted on 06/15/2009 3:37:30 PM PDT by TaraP
After more than 120,000 years trapped beneath a block of ice in Greenland, a tiny microbe has awoken. The long-lasting bacteria may hold clues to what life forms might exist on other planets.
The new bacteria species was found nearly 2 miles (3 km) beneath a Greenland glacier, where temperatures can dip well below freezing, pressure soars, and food and oxygen are scarce.
"We don't know what state they were in," said study team member Jean Brenchley of Pennsylvania State University. "They could've been dormant, or they could've been slowly metabolizing, but we don't know for sure."
Dormant would mean the bacteria were in a spore-like state in which there's not a lot of metabolism going on, so the bacteria wouldn't be reproducing much.
It's possible the bacteria could have been slowly metabolizing and replicating.
"Microbes have found ways to survive in harsh conditions for long times that we don't yet fully understand," Brenchley told LiveScience.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I’ve seen the movie..........
Ummm, so where is Helen’s picture?
“Those crazy Swedes”...
I thought that “The Thing” came from outer space and landed in Antarctica and not in the arctic.
well, we know where this is going. First the scientist starts to metestasize into some ugly blob. He goes crazy and starts infecting other team memembers including one you’d never suspect and then his beautiful assistant is saved by the hero. The end
SPOILER ALERT!
How about the most recent episode of Primeval? Great episode I thought.
“Sounds like one hell of a movie....”
(...Don “That Movie Announcer Guy” LaFontaine, R.I.P.)
So, the microbe wakes up after 120,000 years. It looks around, sees Helen Thomas and, sighing, says “Are you still here????”
GGG ping
And, boy, did he have a crick in his neck! BA-DA-BING!
The Andromeda Strain
The long-lasting bacteria may hold clues to what life forms might exist on other planets.
And if I had wheels I might be a wagon. I think they're reaching a little to make that suggestion.
This sentence is typical of journalistic stupidity. They found this microbe in a Glacier which is, essentially, a big block of ice, which can only exist at temperatures below freezing but this writer feels it is necessary to tell us this fact, plus letting us know that at the bottom of two miles of freezing ice, pressure is high and food and oxygen are scarce. I guess he thinks most people are as bat sh** stupid as he/she is.
Agggghhhhh! I haven’t seen this one of Helen before!
Somehow, I’d feel better if she were buried under a mile of ice.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
