Microbe found two miles under Greenland ice is reawakened from a 120,000-year sleep

Microbe found two miles under Greenland ice is reawakened from a 120,000-year sleep

www.dailymail.co.uk

A tiny purple bug that has been buried under nearly two miles of ice for 120,000 years has been revived in a lab.

The unusual bacterium was found deep within a Greenland ice sheet and scientists believe it holds clues to how life might survive on other planets.

Researchers coaxed the dormant frozen microbes, back to life by carefully warming the ice samples containing them over a period of 11-and-a-half months.

(visit the link for the full news article)

You know its stories like this that make me fear science just a tiny bit.

Could you imagine if this was the new super bug that would kill a ton of life on the planet?

I know it's a stretch to think that way but c'mon it hasnt been seen by animals or plants in 120,000 years.

Other than the fear my reaction was, isnt that just cool! See what I did there?

www.dailymail.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

i agree with you..i have a bad feeling about this

NO NO, do not wake it up , this is a fact it can be a killer bacteria what can whipe the entire population of this planet!!!!!!!!!! this is a chanse not some theory, same as Nasa is planing to bring back to earth bacteria from Mars
The threat from life on mars

Originally posted by Tentickles

I know it's a stretch to think that way but c'mon it hasnt been seen by animals or plants in 120,000 years.

I don't think it's a stretch at all Tentickles. We have no immunity (nor do any of the other animals or plants). I do fear things like this...

Originally posted by Iamonlyhuman

Originally posted by Tentickles

I know it's a stretch to think that way but c'mon it hasnt been seen by animals or plants in 120,000 years.

I don't think it's a stretch at all Tentickles. We have no immunity (nor do any of the other animals or plants). I do fear things like this...

One day they will wake up whatever killed the dinosaurs, or the Mayans, or Jamestown, or whatever!

We may have immunities for these things though. The vast majority of our DNA is dormant, and it may hold blueprints for past plagues and disasters, so I would be more worried about the new genetically modified stuff they are creating than the old stuff they are awakening. Either way, something will get us eventually!

reply to post by getreadyalready


I don't think they'll be waking up the spanish inquisition anytime soon.

It states that this virus is in no way harmful to humans. They do keep your fear level high saying there can be much smaller pathogens that we couldn't detect at all.

Although I can't see a realistic threat in it at all, the virus would have to have had some kind of mutation that would effect humans, but it could easily something that just solely attacks..... pigeons! Then the pigeons are doomed, and little old ladies will have too much bread on their hands.

Point being, it's not harmful, it's just a little virus. I don't it'd be anything like what the white man brought over to the indians.

bacteria from Mars... re-awakened purple bacteria. Could be the real cause for the dinosaur extinction? Who knows. I guess this would be about the best chance Earth would have to heal itself from the damage we have done to her. Maybe the Earth will balance itself through mankinds mass extinction of this purple bacteria by using mankinds own curiousity.

Ever heard the phrase "curiousity killed the cat?"

[edit on 6/15/2009 by Amaxium]

reply to post by Amaxium


Sensing a bit of self loathing there.

Sure we're probably not the greatest thing to happen to the earth but, think of it like this, mankind is fairly young.

Now say you have a 2 year old child, you're going to expect crayon on the wall, throw up on the floor and a poo filled diaper, now you don't jump to the conclusion that the child dying would save the house!

You think well this child will get older, learn to respect the house it lives in, and become better, and eventually move out! That's whatd i'd like to see!

We are already thinking up ways to stop drawing and throwing up on the floor and walls, at least we're trying.

Originally posted by Tentickles


You know its stories like this that make me fear science just a tiny bit.

Could you imagine if this was the new super bug that would kill a ton of life on the planet?

I know it's a stretch to think that way but c'mon it hasnt been seen by animals or plants in 120,000 years.

I agree entirely with you something like this could very well happen, you never know whats lurking beneath (or up above)

Are you all kidding me?

This isn't an NBC made for T.V. movie. It's a bacteria that could tell us a lot about the environment 120,000 years ago and answer a lot of questions an array of researchers. All "bacteria" isn't bad, in fact, most of it is good. There's good bacterias in our mouth, nose, intestine, skin, etc... In fact, I take a red/blue algae (bacteria) every day.

As hard as it's going to be, pull yourself away from your television specials and read more. It couldn't hurt. After awhile, people might mistake you for a calm, rational, maybe even "strong" person.. You know?... Maybe.


Edit: Spelling is hard at 7:00 AM.

[edit on 15-6-2009 by DeadFlagBlues]

about the tv that was funny, i dont own a tv, so i dont know whats going on there, i do read the magazines, but watch the tv........am i in the stone age?

I have a serious problem with women who choose to keep their last name compounding the whole naming scheme. I imagine them to have a mental disorder. The only one Ive ran into was a Dr I once saw who almost killed me because she infact had a mental disorder. Some personal vendetta that bled over into her practice resulted in me having a hypertensive emergancy. So I think Ill always have that view. So I see this article about rare 120 thousand year old bacteria someones playing around with in a lab and its a woman who has a double lastname. Doesnt make me feel very good at all.

Originally posted by Tentickles


You know its stories like this that make me fear science just a tiny bit.

Could you imagine if this was the new super bug that would kill a ton of life on the planet?

I know it's a stretch to think that way but c'mon it hasnt been seen by animals or plants in 120,000 years.

Other than the fear my reaction was, isnt that just cool! See what I did there?

www.dailymail.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Wouldn't our ancestor possibly have already been in contact with this strain of microbe 120,000 years ago. Therefore any immunity they developed to it should have been passed down through the eons in our DNA.

I don't claim to be an microbiologist or immunologist but I just thought in a lot of cases immunities were hereditory.

Just a thought, so please correct if wrong.

[edit on 15-6-2009 by acrux]

reply to post by DeadFlagBlues


I do not watch TV sir, and if we never ask questions like these we would all believe the government loved us.

reply to post by Tentickles


No, you'd just seem slightly more intelligent.

Everything isn't out to get you.

Originally posted by Iamonlyhuman

Originally posted by Tentickles

I know it's a stretch to think that way but c'mon it hasnt been seen by animals or plants in 120,000 years.

I don't think it's a stretch at all Tentickles. We have no immunity (nor do any of the other animals or plants). I do fear things like this...

I agree that it shouldnt be messed with..

I dont think its a good idea to re-animate anything that was around before the last extiction cycle..

Theres a huge problem with the analogy of humans being a 2 year old child throwing poo around. The first problem is that in this analogy, our 2 year old child of humanity has no adults to help guide it. How much destruction could a child cause to a house hold without any guidance? The second problem is the comparison. We are more like a five year old child, that has learned to play with matches and is rapidly setting the house on fire. Since humans came into dominance almost all other complex animals and plants have rapidly declined. We are not only destroying our own survivability, but that of all our neighbors and cohabitants (co owners) of this world of ours.

Put your fear back in its sheath... When these mad scientists "bring back to life" some form of bacteria from a core sample taken two miles under Greenland, just take a moment to think before you freak out.

Two miles under Greenland, dated to 120,000 years ago — the lifeforms discovered at such depths don't undergo the same sort of genetic mutation as do we lifeforms on the surface of the planet. The bugs we find down there are very, very stable from an evolutionary standpoint, as evidenced by the fact that they can survive in suspended animation. As a matter of fact, Science has similarly retrieved "suspended" bacteria from core samples at great depths and dating back many millions of years — give 'em a little warmth and a few nutrients, and these super-ancient bacteria revive and go about their business like nothing happened.

These extreme lifeforms don't need a frenzied evolution process to survive.

On the surface, we have this dynamic interaction with solar radiation and cosmic rays and other diverse factors that cause surface-dwellers and their respective diseases to mutate much more rapidly. The surface bacteria and viruses that plague humankind today are bugs that evolved with us over millions of years — they have evolved the biochemical "keys" to invading the human organism.

Without "the keys," a bug can't enter our systems to harm us.

Even "new" diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Swine Flu aren't really "new" at all. There have always been isolated mystery diseases that killed off pockets of humanity dating back into prehistory, but we have only recently categorized and named a few such diseases, lending to the illusion that they suddenly evolved in the last 50 years or so; in fact, these "new" bugs are actually quite ancient, and they've contacted the human species repeatedly in the past.

So... What are the chances, do you think, that the bacteria discovered 2 miles deep in the frozen wastes of Greenland have ever contacted humanity in the past? Well, 120,000 years ago, there were probably as few as a half-million human-like creatures on the entire planet; it's extremely unlikely that this handful of early humans had developed the seafaring technology to reach Greenland; and there is no evidence whatsoever of human habitation of Greenland before 4500 years ago.

Therefore it may be safe to say that this deep-ice bacterium has never encountered human beings in the past and does not possess the biochemical "keys" to invading our living tissues. There may be some dim possibility that the bacteria contacted our very ancient proto-human ancestors — like, a few million years ago — however, if it was an extremely toxic bacterium, we obviously wouldn't have continued to evolve into homo sapiens.

The same may be said of bacteria and other organisms that we may eventually discover on other worlds... Those extraterrestrial lifeforms, completely and utterly unrelated to Earthly organisms, should have no toxic effect on human beings, except by the most incredible coincidence.

— Doc Velocity






[edit on 6/15/2009 by Doc Velocity]

Originally posted by DeadFlagBlues

As hard as it's going to be, pull yourself away from your television specials and read more. It couldn't hurt. After awhile, people might mistake you for a calm, rational, maybe even "strong" person.. You know?... Maybe.

[edit on 15-6-2009 by DeadFlagBlues]

Am I wrong in mistaking you for a rude, hothead that is irrationally assuming that people who question the wisdom of fallible people digging up unknown 120,000 year old bacteria are automatically ignorant and illiterate? Go home until you can post more respectfully.