Our planet’s history includes episodes of cold so extreme that glaciers reached sea level in equatorial regions. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/whats-coldest-earth-has-ever-been…
Tag: microbe
Ancient microbial life used arsenic to thrive in a world without oxygen
Today, most life on Earth is supported by oxygen. But ancient microbial mats existed for a billion years before oxygen was present in the atmosphere. So what did life use instead? Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/ancient-microbial-life-arsenic…
Strange Bacteria Can Build Electricity-Carrying Cables in Mud
Bacteria in mud samples have been transformed into microbial fuel cells generating enough electricity to power a toy car — just part of a larger phenomenon that one chemical engineer had originally dismissed as “complete nonsense.” Science magazine remembers how Lars Peter Nielsen’s 2009 experiment at Denmark’s Aarhus University changed the way the world viewed bacteria:
At the start of the experiment,…
Scientists Solve Mystery Behind Body Odor
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Researchers at the University of York traced the source of underarm odor to a particular enzyme in a certain microbe that lives in the human armpit. To prove the enzyme was the chemical culprit, the scientists transferred it to an innocent member of the underarm microbe community and noted — to their…
New ‘planetary quarantine’ report reviews risks of alien contamination of Earth
In Michael Crichton’s 1969 novel The Andromeda Strain, a deadly alien microbe hitches a ride to Earth aboard a downed military satellite and scientists must race to contain it. While fictional, the plot explores a very real and longstanding concern shared by NASA and world governments: that spacefaring humans, or our robotic emissaries, may unwittingly contaminate Earth with extraterrestrial life or…
Scientists Identify Microbe That Could Help Degrade Polyurethane-Based Plastics
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: German researchers report in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology that they have identified and characterized a strain of bacteria capable of degrading some of the chemical building blocks of polyurethane. The team out of Germany managed to isolate a bacterium, Pseudomonas sp. TDA1, from a site rich in brittle plastic waste that shows…
What’s cool about Curiosity’s discovery of organic molecules on Mars
The Curiosity rover has found organic molecules called thiophenes, which, on Earth, are associated with biological systems. Are they evidence for once-living microbes on Mars? Source: https://earthsky.org/space/thiophenes-organic-molecules-curiosity-rover-mars-life…
Gut bacteria may be responsible for bowel disorders including cancers
One kind of bacteria can cause colon tumours, while lacking another kind of microbe may lead to ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel condition Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2235508-gut-bacteria-may-be-responsible-for-bowel-disorders-including-cancers/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
How ancient microbes could help save coastal cities from rising seas
Coastal cities like New York might be able to survive climate change’s rising seas by taking some cues from ancient microbe-built mounds called stromatolites, experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats believes. Source: https://www.livescience.com/climate-change-primordial-cities-art-project.html
Protein-Powered Device Creates Electricity From Moisture In the Air
Slashdot readers fahrbot-bot and operator_error share a report from Phys.Org: Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed a device that uses a natural protein to create electricity from moisture in the air, a new technology they say could have significant implications for the future of renewable energy, climate change and in the future of medicine. As reported today in…