Newly Discovered Bacterium Lives on Radioactive Decay
Newly discovered bacteria are thriving two miles underground in groundwater which has been cut off from the surface for millions of years. Rather than using chemical energy produced at some point by photosynthesis, the bacteria make a living completely off of energy produced by radioactive decay - a first for any known form of life. This demonstrates another barrier broken by life on Earth and has huge implications regarding the possibility of life on other planets. The extended existence of these bacteria in an ecosystem completely isolated from, and presumably unaffected by, the surface of the planet suggests that life could exist on a planet where the surface has long been devoid of life. This gives new hope to those who hope to find signs of life on Mars. Let’s just not get too optimistic when we tear apart other worlds in search of anything that so much as looks like a cell. So far, finding life everywhere we look seems only to be the rule on Earth.
Christian said,
October 25, 2006 @ 3:31 pm
Reminds me of all the talk of life on Europe … I was looking that up and found out that some people are looking for life on Titan, another one of Saturn’s moons that’s covered in methane. Ugh.
That Astrobiology Magazine website is kinda wild, actually … they have a place where you can apparently download each of their magazine articles in text-to-speech. It doesn’t actually work.
Christian said,
October 25, 2006 @ 3:32 pm
I meant life on Europa.
Because seriously, is there really life in Europe? Please.
Christian said,
October 25, 2006 @ 3:32 pm
http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2070
monkey said,
October 25, 2006 @ 5:41 pm
C’mon, methane just has a bad rep. Pure methane is, in fact, odorless. It’s just often mixed with smelly stuff. Who knows what the methane on Europa smells like?
I’ve thought of doing podcasts with text-to-speech, just to be hideously geeky. Windows has a variety of voices, one of which is identical to the one that Family Guy used on a character that was a spoof of Steven Hawking. Maybe it’s Steven Hawking’s voice too…? Who knows.
Incidentally, I read that Steven Hawking may be back on the market the other day: Marriage in Black Hole
Mac said,
October 25, 2006 @ 9:26 pm
So…Is it possible to harness these radioactivity-loving bacteria to decontaminate radioactive waste?
Christian said,
October 25, 2006 @ 10:31 pm
Methane on Europa! I will chalk that up to a typo. You mean Titan of course
Aaron said,
November 1, 2006 @ 2:30 pm
This is definitely one of the neatest discoveries in a long time.
I bet the creationists & intelligent designers are trying their best to ignore this.
monkey said,
November 1, 2006 @ 2:47 pm
Good point. This may not have made it into the larger media outlets for a reason!
monkey said,
November 1, 2006 @ 2:47 pm
It’s possible that these could be used to decontaminate radioactive waste, but they have yet to grow these bacteria in the lab, so they may be difficult to work with. Another group of bacteria associated with radioactivity are Deinococcus spp. They are extremely radiation-resistant and many groups are trying to engineer them to bioremediate environments contaminated with radioactivity.