Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
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Re: Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
#2> we found that up to 99.1% of the microbes in sediment deposited 101.5 million years ago were still alive and were ready to eat
> But the real secret of their remarkable survival lies in their metabolic rate. It is just slow enough for them to survive for such long periods.
That would imply their metabolic rate to be practically zero, 101 million years is such a long time that even the tiniest amount of activity would result in a depletion of resources. Does that mean they die, only to come back to live at a better time?
Re: Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
#3> we found that up to 99.1% of the microbes in sediment deposited 101.5 million years ago were still alive and were ready to eat > But the real secret of their remarkable survival lies in their metabolic rate. It is just slow enough for them to survive for such long periods. That would imply their metabolic rate to be practically zero, 101 million years is such a long time that even the tiniest amount of activity wou…
I wondered that too. "Die" implies not just metabolic rate going to zero, but also cells "disassembling" too ("decomposing" feels a bit large-scale in this context).
It did say that there were microscopic amounts of oxygen in the sediment. Presumably, that was enough to maintain a minimally-small MR.
Re: Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
#4I wonder if they could similarly survive on, say, comets or asteroids.
Re: Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
#5Microbes Sleeping 100M Years on the Ocean Floor WERE INTENTIONALLY Awakened
Move along if you expected this to be a story on climate change effects.
Re: Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
#6> we found that up to 99.1% of the microbes in sediment deposited 101.5 million years ago were still alive and were ready to eat > But the real secret of their remarkable survival lies in their metabolic rate. It is just slow enough for them to survive for such long periods. That would imply their metabolic rate to be practically zero, 101 million years is such a long time that even the tiniest amount of activity wou…
I wondered that too. "Die" implies not just metabolic rate going to zero, but also cells "disassembling" too ("decomposing" feels a bit large-scale in this context). It did say that there were microscopic amounts of oxygen in the sediment. Presumably, that was enough to maintain a minimally-small MR.
As they were buried deeper and deeper in the sediment, presumably oxygen levels fell lower and lower.
That will have caused selective pressure to manage to survive with so few resources. Those that can't simply become energy for others who can.
Re: Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
#7"That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die."
Re: Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
#8> we found that up to 99.1% of the microbes in sediment deposited 101.5 million years ago were still alive and were ready to eat > But the real secret of their remarkable survival lies in their metabolic rate. It is just slow enough for them to survive for such long periods. That would imply their metabolic rate to be practically zero, 101 million years is such a long time that even the tiniest amount of activity wou…
At those timescales you'd think they would have ceased to exist due to atomic half-life or radiation or something.
Re: Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
#9I wonder if they could similarly survive on, say, comets or asteroids.
It is a popular theory that that's how life on earth started; the google term is panspermia iirc.