Bacteria Found Alive In Ice 120,000 Years Old

FiReaNGeL notes research presented this morning at Penn State on the discovery of a new, ultra-small species of bacteria that has survived for more than 120,000 years within the ice of a Greenland glacier at a depth of nearly two miles. From the psu.edu announcement: "The microorganism's ability to persist in this low-temperature, high-pressure, reduced-oxygen, and nutrient-poor habitat makes it particularly useful for studying how life, in general, can survive in a variety of extreme environments on Earth and possibly elsewhere in the solar system. This new species is among the ubiquitous, yet mysterious, ultra-small bacteria, which are so tiny that they are able to pass through microbiological filters. Called Chryseobacterium greenlandensis, the species is related genetically to certain bacteria found in fish, marine mud, and the roots of some plants."

Young earth creationists

[genner (694963)]

Have another reason to point and laugh.

Re:

[by Anonymous Coward]

My Lordship/Friend, Calvary greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I am former Mrs Sikiratu Seki Adams, now Mrs Comfort Faith Adams, a widow to Late Saheed Baba Adams. I am 72years old, I am now a new Christian convert,suffering from long time cancer of the breast. From all indications, my condition is really deteriorating and is quite obvious that I may not live more than six months, because the cancer stage has gotten to a very severe stage. My late husband was killed during the Gulf war, and

Re:Young earth creationists

[by Anonymous Coward]

About 1/3 of the U.S. public debt?

Re:Young earth creationists

[Oktober Sunset (838224)]

I bet Bush wishes he had replied to that email now doesn't he.

Re:Young earth creationists

[murky_lurker (780235)]

Well, I guess that just about wraps it up for God.

Re:Young earth creationists

[rhombic (140326)]

FYI it's a very tiny number of believers that think the creation is literal.

The Gallup poll [gallup.com] says otherwise. Average of '05, '06, & '07 polls indicated 31% of Americans believed that the bible is the "Actual word of God, to be taken literaly".

~100,000,000 people is not a very tiny number.

Re:

[thealsir (927362)]

You'd be right. http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=167 [pewglobal.org]

Re:Young earth creationists

[Idiomatick (976696)]

Well that certainly is convenient. I wonder why the bible has so many specific dates if its not literal. Anyways if you read any book that was filled with non-literal stories why would you believe any of it. Thats the exact same as trusting a known liar. If creation is just a metaphor then so is god, jesus and everything else in the bible. Either believe it all or none of it. I hate pick and choose believers. Too cowardly to abandon an ancient book yet too sensible to believe it.
 
  I'm sure i'll get modded down for bashing the religious folk. Before you do, re-read it and pretend i was talking about a religion you don't like such as satanism or .... wicca.

Re:Young earth creationists

[RanCossack (1138431)]

I've yet to hear a proof that there is no God that would not serve equally well to prove there is no DM when used in-character in D&D.

Re:Young earth creationists

[Idiomatick (976696)]

:/ you can't DISPROVE god.... but thats not the point, you can't PROVE god is. The burden of proof is on the religious....
 
  Also i could probably prove the DM exists in most D&D campaigns from the characters POV.... though i do like the analogy, it should replace cars on slashdot to represent the world. Nerdier than cars and if anything weird happened we could blame it on gnomes.

Proving such a negative is essentially impossible

[aepervius (535155)]

You should take some logic courses. Which is why the burden of proof is NOT on "proving there is no God", but rather on "proving there is a God". Since the second is also a shaky proposition (up to now the number of evidence which stand even a slight scrutinies is equal to zero), ANY God's existence (Christian or not) stand to be forever on the SAME level as the existence of gnome, leprechauns, dragon, santa and unicorns. The difference is the number of people believing in all those things without having an

Re:

[Chris Burke (6130)]

Well that certainly is convenient. I wonder why the bible has so many specific dates if its not literal. Anyways if you read any book that was filled with non-literal stories why would you believe any of it. Thats the exact same as trusting a known liar. If creation is just a metaphor then so is god, jesus and everything else in the bible. Either believe it all or none of it. I hate pick and choose believers. Too cowardly to abandon an ancient book yet too sensible to believe it.

Yeah, after all, why would y

Re:Young earth creationists

[0111 1110 (518466)]

I'm sure i'll get modded down for bashing the religious folk.

You must be new here.

Re:

[by Anonymous Coward]

God put those bacteria there to test our faith

Re:Young earth creationists

[by Anonymous Coward]

You're not supposed to believe in science. That's the point; repeatability and maintaining a healthy scepticism.

Re:Young earth creationists

[taylortbb (759869)]

I don't think the GP was saying they don't believe in science, hence their claim "there are no YEC's on slashdot." The GP was merely pointing out that some people lack faith in the scientific method.

You say science doesn't require faith, but it does require a small bit, a belief that past trends are indicative future events. I personally consider this to be a simple obvious truth, and therefore I personally have complete faith in the scientific method. For some reason however not all people share my belief in the scientific method. The rest of the world can ridicule them and laugh at them, but so called "flat earthers" do exist, whether they should or not.

Re:Young earth creationists

[geekoid (135745)]

"Newsflash: some people don't believe in science. Get over it."

I have never seen anyone so succinctly indicated there lack of understanding what science is.

Newsflash: It doesn't require belief.

Re:Young earth creationists

[geekoid (135745)]

AS soon as I hit commit, I saw my "There" mistake and new there would be a comment about that.
Not that it matters, there are plenty of best sellers and classic with bad grammar.
Yes, I know there are others.

Re:Young earth creationists

[Reality Master 101 (179095)]

This to me sounds strangely like religion. Somewhere along the line you have to place trust or belief in something. Nothing is empirical when you're trusting an "authority" on a subject.

The difference is that I can interrogate a scientist and demand his evidence for his beliefs, then draw my own conclusions. When God allows me to interrogate him to prove his existence, then God will be on the same level of trust as scientists.

Re:Young earth creationists

[Reality Master 101 (179095)]

You have your chance to ask now.

I ask, but funny enough, nothing happens. I also ask Ra and Zeus to appear, and the identical thing happens.

And you will definitely have your chance in the future.

Should that happen, I will definitely ask him why he set up such a stupid system. If he wanted to be worshipped, he shouldn't have set everything up to appear as though he doesn't exist, and he shouldn't have made religion so absurdly irrational. I'd also probably ask him why, if he's all powerful, why he cares whether we worship him or not. Does it hurt his feelings or something? Or maybe he needs the ego stroke? If I was setting up a universe as my plaything and/or experiment, I'd hardly care about whether the individual pawns are worshipping me. It's kind of like caring whether people in The Sims are aware that a god outside their universe is watching them.

Or maybe that's the point of the experiment -- give people intelligence, sprinkle a few hints early on in ancient history, then put mountains of contrary evidence around, and see how long people take to overcome the early conditioning that God existed.

In fact -- I bet that's it! God will reward those who don't believe in him, because they used the intelligence God gave them to overcome irrationality and the fear instilled by the church. The ones who will be punished are the ones who rejected the intelligence that God gave them. If I was God, that's how I would dole out rewards. And given that God is rational and intelligent (though, the Old Testament kind of argues against both those, but I digress), this is clearly what will happen, should there actually be an afterlife. Better repent your beliefs now, just in case I'm right!

Here's a thought experiment

[spun (1352)]

In another universe God set up, froodling is a deadly sin. In this universe, it is impossible to froodle. In both universes, free will exists. If you accept the possibility of this premise, then you must accept the possibility that God could have set up a universe where free exists, but sin is impossible.

Just be thankful we don't live in the universe where every possible action is a sin.

As to your point about free will and proof, I simply don't understand how you can say that proof and free will are mutuall

Re:Young earth creationists

[Wandering Wombat (531833)]

Don't you watch Moral Orel? God made Technology to make our lives easier. The Devil made Science to prove God wrong.

Addendum to the report

[elrous0 (869638)]

Further reports indicate that communication with the Penn State research station that unearthed the bacteria broke off shortly after the discovery. Another nearby research station is planning an expedition to the site, however, after discovering one of the Penn State sled dogs wandering into their camp.

"This is a great discovery. There is nothing at all to worry about." said the oddly-behaving scientist who discovered the sled dog.

Re:

[Zymergy (803632)]

Dr. Blair: [throwing a fit in the radio room] You guys think I'M crazy! Well, that's fine! Most of you don't know what's going on around here, but I'm damn well sure SOME of you do! You think that thing wanted to be an animal? No dogs make it a thousand miles through the cold! No, you don't understand! That thing wanted to be US!
(later...)
MacReady: [talking into tape recorder] Nobody... nobody trusts anybody now, and we're all very tired... there's nothing more I can do, just wait... RJ MacReady, helico

120,000??

[The_DoubleU (603071)]

But..... the earth is only 6000 years old.
Somebody is lying!

But what about quality of life

[techmuse (160085)]

Sure, the bacteria survived. But how do you think it felt, being trapped in ice for 120,000 years? The first few years were probably ok. After that, it probably got really good at checkers. After the 1000th year, it proved that P=NP. At year 10,000, it dreamed of starting its own civilization. But then it started to go mad. Mad. MAD, I tell you. Now that it is free, the bacteria wants nothing but to seek revenge upon all other life forms for continuing to prosper and evolve while it was trapped beneath the ice. Buried alive. Buried alive...

(Kaaaaahn....)

Re:But what about quality of life

[pwnies (1034518)]

Sadly the proof that P=NP that was etched into the ice was melted as scientists began the process of extracting the vengeful bacteria.
Ironically, the reason for it melting was due to the scientists using more bore holes than necessary to connect all of the pockets of bacteria cultures in the ice.

What's Next?

[Dareth (47614)]

I am sure after all these years, this bacteria is either:

A) Eager to evolve into an organism capable of having sex.

B) Eager to start posting regularly on Slashdot.

Yes, these options are mutually exclusive.

Oblig. Futurama

[Dachannien (617929)]

But how do you think it felt, being trapped in ice for 120,000 years?

Fry: "Bender! What was it like, lying in that hole for a thousand years?"
Bender: "I was enjoying it until you guys showed up!"

I think you'll be safe

[NIckGorton (974753)]

If you RTFA, you'll see the thing only grows in cold, low nutrient, low oxygen environments. We are (generally) warm, high nutrient, high oxygen environments.

After watching a fictional killer virus on "I Am Legend", I am feeling nervous about new germs in labs.

That's why its called fiction.

Re:

[jd (1658)]

If fictional viruses can be that lethal, just imagine what the real ones can do.

Only 120,000 years old?

[gyrogeerloose (849181)]

Hell, I've got bacteria in my refrigerator that's as old as that.

Hopefully it's harmless

[tiedyejeremy (559815)]

I would hate to discover that this was a rare bacteria that produces greenhouse gasses... and will begin to reproduce rapidly now that it's free.

Re:Hopefully it's harmless

[Loibisch (964797)]

Maybe it's a bacteria that EATS greenhouse gases and we're all saved (well, except for Greepeace who will be out of a job...)

Achoo!

[cobyrne (118270)]

Do we ...

(Achoo!)

*sniff*

... have any immunity?

I have to wonder...

[hyades1 (1149581)]

If you put the bacteria into a radioactive, poisonous desert with a rat, a cockroach, Cher and a lawyer, which would survive longest, and would it actually eat the others?

Lets Start Spreading

[alexborges (313924)]

Okay. Here is what I propose in order to save "life [kind of] as we know it", before WE destroy it here first.

Lets cultivate this little bug, put in on a nice british-silver-martini ice container, and start sprouting it throughout the solar system and beyond.

By the time they reach Alpha Centauri, we probably will have nuked each other asses and made this rock too hot for anything living.

This way, at least, we know we let some of our "evolutive" life er... "style", out there in the universe for the Flying Sp

Flesh eating bacteria

[WarJolt (990309)]

This new species is among the ubiquitous, yet mysterious, ultra-small bacteria, which are so tiny that they are able to pass through microbiological filters.

I'm always afraid when scientists get a hold of new species of bacteria. They always do something crazy with them like make rabbits glow.
I can just see it now...

Breaking news:
Scientists have genetically engineered flesh-eating bacteria that is too small for scientists to detect. Drinking from your faucet is in advised as no filter can filter them out. Symptoms include explosive diarrhea then your eyeballs will fall out.

John Mccain called ...

[vivek7006 (585218)]

He wants his ice-cream back

If it was small enough..

[eieken (635333)]

To pass through a microbiological filter, how did they find it? The article states how they study the bacteria, but how did they know to process this one specific piece of ice for ancient bacteria? Were they just going through thousands of tons of ancient ice core and happened upon it by accident?

Re:

[RockDoctor (15477)]

To pass through a microbiological filter, how did they find it?

Most likely they were examining part of the core and they "slabbed" it for ease of handling and recording. Core comes out of the ground as cylinders, so all faces are curved, and that makes it hard to examine, measure and photograph (looking for dust bands, flow lines etc). So SOP is to cut the core along a chord (leaving two unequal segments) and then to cut the larger segment into two equal halves. Typically (for rock cores, in the oil industr

Alternate Link With Electron MIcroscopic Image

[kingmundi (54911)]

Same exact text, but with a picture, from physorg.

http://www.physorg.com/news131712233.html [physorg.com]

Re:Alternate Link With Electron MIcroscopic Image

[FiReaNGeL (312636)]

Actually the link I submitted was http://esciencenews.com/articles/2008/06/03/a.survivor.greenland.a.novel.bacterial.species.found.trapped.120000.year.old.ice [esciencenews.com]

which has 3 pictures. For some reason the editor changed it.

Phoenix

[lilfields (961485)]

When I first read the headline I was hoping it was the a "life on Mars" discovery from the Phoenix...article doesn't deliver...

Though I do wonder if this has implications for the Mars mission?

The real question...

[smbarbour (893880)]

How will this discovery save our bananas?

Obligatory quote

[Yvan256 (722131)]

"The first ten million years were the worst, and the second ten million years, they were the worst too. The third ten million I didn't enjoy at all. After that I went into a bit of a decline." - Marvin

Re:Anonymouse Coward

[Neuropol (665537)]

In soviet Russia, bacteria finds you frozen in ice thousands of years later.

Re:120,000 Years Old ??

[geekoid (135745)]

"Cut one in half and count the rings ??" in a manner.
Depth of ice,number of layers and maybe radiological testing.

Re:so in some way

[Pfhorrest (545131)]

the bacteria "knew" the ice was gonna start melting some day?

if it didn't then what's the purpose of staying "alive" for 120000 years?

Evolution is not teleological (which means "purposive" or "goal-oriented"). This bacterium happened to be able to survive long periods in the freezing cold due to some mutation or another. This would be a big evolutionary advantage because it could then live and reproduce in areas where most other things cannot.

Some of these bacteria got frozen for 120,000 years. They weren't waiting for it to thaw out; they're just out there living in the cold regions where nothing else can live, and sticking it out even when it gets too cold for them.

Analogously, imagine that there is some primitive tribe of humans with no knowledge of climatology, currently living in tropical or desert climes who, unbeknown to anyone, have a mutation which allows them to survive in hibernation in freezing cold temperatures, and then reawaken when it warms up again. They did not evolve this because they needed to survive freezing cold temperatures, they just have a genetic adaptation which is not disadvantageous, and might even correlate with some other adaptation which is advantageous. And because they live in warm climes, nobody knows they have this mutation.

Then say someday we enter another great ice age, so cold that everybody on Earth dies out, except this tribe, who barely manages to live on for thousands of years, frozen in the ice, due to their mutation. And then eventually the ice age ends and the world gets nice and warm, these people thaw out and start living their lives again.

Now imagine we're aliens watching this future Earth thaw out. We might ask, did these people know that an ice age was coming? No... they've probably never even heard of ice. So they certainly didn't know that the ice age they never expected was going to end eventually. So what's the purpose of them having this mutation that allowed them to stay "alive" frozen in the ice for thousands of years? The answer is that there was none; they didn't mean to have the mutation, and nobody meant for them to have the mutation, they just had it by chance, and as chance would have it it came in really handy when the whole world froze over and everybody but them died out, which is why they're still around for us to wonder about.

Or in short: They didn't get the mutation so that they could survive. They survived because they had the mutation.

Re:

[0111 1110 (518466)]

While evolution isn't, life is. It seems there are two purposes in every form of life:
1) Spread your genetic material
2) Don't die.

Someone is watching too much porn. I think you have those in the wrong order. I am alive and have no interest in either of those goals. But especially not #1. In fact just the opposite. I would much rather die than spread any of my genetic material.