It's ALIVE!!!

[river-wind]

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/latest/lat_126668.shtml

strange goo on radioactive containers is, in fact, a living thing, able to withstand thousands of times the levels of radiation that would normally kill a cell.

 

[matthyaouw]

Amazing stuff. And the readers comments are worth a read for pure comedy value. I wonder if this has any implications for life on other planets. I've often heard that high UV levels on mars are supposed to be able to kill anything that lives near the surface, but if bacteria can adapt to conditions harsher than we thought possible in less than 100 years, maybe they'd fare better in mars-like conditions than we first thought.

 

[spidergoat]

How well is this nuclear waste contained if organisms can get in there?

 

[one_raven]

I've often heard that high UV levels on mars are supposed to be able to kill anything that lives near the surface, but if bacteria can adapt to conditions harsher than we thought possible in less than 100 years, maybe they'd fare better in mars-like conditions than we first thought.

It annoys the hell out of me when people say that life can not thrive or is not possible in this or that environment on other planets.
Not only does life exist in situations such as this, oxygen depeted environments and deep sea vents, but we do knot know what other life that we do not know about will feed/thrive on.

 

[orcot]

any change that scientist could make it intimite with a Hypolith bacteria (cold and dry air loving bacteria) and ship it to mars?

 

[one_raven]

any change that scientist could make it intimite with a Hypolith bacteria (cold and dry air loving bacteria) and ship it to mars?

I hope not!:bugeye:

 

[Mosheh Thezion]

UTTERLY FASCINATING.... amazing news.

thanks for sharing.

-MT