June 17, 2009

fresh colonies of purple brown bacteria

Whoa.

Scientists have brought a newly-discovered bug back to life after more than 120,000 years in hibernation. It raises hopes that dormant life might be revived on Mars. The tiny purple microbe, called Herminiimonas glaciei, lay trapped beneath nearly two miles of ice in Greenland. It took 11 months to revive it by gently warming it in an incubator. Finally the bug sprang back to life and began producing fresh colonies of purple brown bacteria.

(via marginal revolution)

posted by in history, science | * | 7 comments 

comments

  1. pdc on June 17th, 2009 at 10:02 am

    upon reading this it reminded me of an x-files episode: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkness_Falls_(The_X-Files)

  2. Dave Vogt on June 17th, 2009 at 10:14 am

    “Huh, I wonder what this bacteria is like.”

    “Well, all we know right now is that it’s tough as hell”

    “I’ve got an idea. Let’s bring it back to life!”

  3. Phil Bebbington on June 17th, 2009 at 10:32 am

    If this stuff gets out and takes over the world we will know whose ass to kick!

  4. Kelsey Parker on June 17th, 2009 at 11:24 am

    Cryonics, here we come!

  5. Lucy on June 17th, 2009 at 11:51 am

    So, Ross says: yay, now we’re all gonna die from purple brown bacteria. I was just seeing the cuteness of warming the bug in the incubator.

  6. Sheila Ryan on June 17th, 2009 at 11:57 am

    Kiss our asses good-bye, eh?

    Well, at least we gently warmed the agents of doom in an incubator.

  7. Deron Bauman on June 17th, 2009 at 12:42 pm

    we do and we do and we do for you microbes, and this is the thanks we get.

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