New organism raises Mars questions

[giza]

From http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/02/23/bacterium.defrost.reut/index.html:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A U.S. scientist claims to have thawed out a new life form, which he said raises questions about possible contemporary life on Mars.

The organism froze on Earth some 30,000 years ago, and was apparently alive all that time and started swimming as soon as it thawed, said Richard Hoover from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama.

The life form -- a bacterium dubbed Carnobacterium pleistocenium -- probably flourished in the Pleistocene Age, along with woolly mammoths and saber-tooth tigers, said Hoover.

He discovered the bacterium near the town of Fox, Alaska, in a tunnel drilled through permafrost -- a mix of permanently frozen ice, soil and rock -- that is kept at a constant temperature of 24.8 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 4 degrees Celcius).

"When they cut into the Fox tunnel, they actually cut through Pleistocene ice wedges, which are similar to structures that we see on Mars," Hoover said in a telephone interview.

The ice wedges contained a golden-brown layer about a half-yard (half-meter) thick, and this layer contained a group of microscopic brownish bacteria, Hoover said.

When he looked at a small sample of this bacteria-laden ice under a microscope, Hoover said, "These bacteria that had just thawed out of the ice ... were swimming around. The instant the ice melted, they started swimming. They were alive ... but they had been frozen for over 30,000 years."

The article goes on how similar conditions may exist on Mars, which means that there may be frozen bacteria there.

I find this really amazing that there is a form of life that can survive being frozen for that long. It's almost like Sea Monkeys on CRACK.

It also has me feeling really optimistic about the chances of finding life on Mars. If we found that there was indeed life on another planet that would be the biggest discovery for mankind since... I don't know, but it'd be pretty big! I'm sure it would generate lots of interest in the scientific community, but I can see lots of backlash in the religious community as well. Some people might lose their faith (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), while others might go into a state of denial and say how it "must have been contamination on the space probes", or a "conspiracy", etc. That second reaction probably wouldn't be too healthy, and would be best observed from a safe distance away.

Comments

[alohawolf.livejournal.com]

since sliced bread?

[lionmage.livejournal.com]

Heh... very cool. We're finding that organisms can last longer and longer under some of the harshest conditions, either in a state of suspended animation or in a state of greatly decelerated metabolism. I was watching a fascinating Nova episode once in which they spent a great deal of time exploring extremophile bacteria. There are bacteria that live inside of water pockets in solid rock, and use the chemical contents of the minerals surrounding them to power their metabolisms. The thing is, in order to survive for so long in an enclosed ecosystem like that with such poor resources, these bacteria only reproduce very slowly (something like one cell division every thousand years). You can imagine how miserly the cell's energy budget has to be for that rate of metabolism! Certainly the weirdest form of chemosynthesis I've ever seen, though not as sexy as the bacteria that live in and around volcanic vents and survive on sulphur compounds.

[unclekage.livejournal.com]

Uh...to Hell with Mars. They're telling me that they dredged up bacteria from the Pleistocene Era, and it was viable??

I am far more alarmed at the idea of digging up live germs to which modern Man has never been exposed than I am excited about the possibility of finding bugs on Mars.

[cyriljackal.livejournal.com]

Who knows what kind of effect a 30,000 year old bacteria could have on something alive today.
Maybe we just read the article of the Apokalypse here. ;x)
Remember this day.

[cyriljackal.livejournal.com]

Don't worry about religion and science. If anything is too challenging to its tenants it WILL be denied, it WILL be surpressed.
It just keeps feeble minds safer to think Earth is the only planet, and five species live here, and only the Bible/Koran/Book of the SubGenius tells them the only important things to have happened over 1000 years ago.
Never underestimate the ability for man to avoid progress.
Maybe that's just a soulless scientist talking.
Makes me think of one of my all time favorite quotes.
"No one, not even the most brilliant scientist alive today, really knows where science is taking us today. We are aboard a train which is gathering speed, racing down a track on which there are an unknown number of destinations. No single scientist is in the engine cab and there may be demons at the switch. Most of society is in the caboose looking backward." -
scientist Ralph Lapp
That is Reality, pure and simple. Backward looking cretins who more than often rule our societies and world. Just look at our current administration. But maybe I'm just bitter. ;x)

[furahi.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't it be peculiar if this was a particularly resistant Bacteria (I mean, like surviving 30K years o_0) and it was a pathogen for us.. one we couldn't get rid of o_o

[tgeller.livejournal.com]

I don't think many religious people would lose their faith if life's found on Mars -- they'll find a way to work it in. Viz a dialogue from The Big Chill:

a: Justifications are more important than sex.
b: Oh, come on, nothing's more important than sex!
a: Have you ever gone a week without a justification?

ahgioqhi

[shannyp2008.livejournal.com]

I'm in history and I'm doing a project on Mars and Earth link through Egypt. It's hard...

kbye.