Oceans a complex, diverse bug soup

Oceans a complex, diverse bug soup

The oceans are teeming with 10 to 100 more types of bacteria than previously believed, many of them unknown to science, according to a new study.

Using a new genetic mapping technique, US, Dutch and Spanish scientists say they found more than 20,000 different types of microbe in a single litre of water from deep sites in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

"These observations blow away all previous estimates of bacterial diversity in the ocean," says lead author Dr Mitchell Sogin of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

More...

Something nice for a change.

Fascinating.

Originally posted by loam
Something nice for a change.

But loam, that means 100,000 more new potential bioweapons or global plagues!

Originally posted by Nygdan
But loam, that means 100,000 more new potential bioweapons or global plagues!

Thank you for the nice belly laugh...

I suppose Patriot Act III will prohibit beach-going now...