Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Ancient life awakens amid thawing ice caps and permafrost
Wshington Post ^ | July 7 at 12:00 PM | Daniel Ackerman

Posted on 07/07/2019 1:23:38 PM PDT by BenLurkin

Vishnivetskaya ... has coaxed million-year-old bacteria back to life on a petri dish. They look “very similar to bacteria you can find in cold environments [today],” she said.

But last year, Vishnivetskaya’s team announced an “accidental finding” — one with a brain and nervous system — that shattered scientists’ understanding of extreme endurance.

They placed the frozen material on petri dishes in their room-temperature lab and noticed something strange. Hulking among the puny bacteria and amoebae were long, segmented worms complete with a head at one end and anus at the other — nematodes.

Clocking in at a half-millimeter long, the nematodes that wriggled back to life were the most complex creatures ... ever revived after a lengthy deep freeze.

She estimated one nematode to be 41,000 years old — by far the oldest living animal ever discovered. This very worm dwelled in the soil beneath Neanderthals’ feet and had lived to meet modern-day humans in Vishnivetskaya’s high-tech laboratory.

When environmental conditions deteriorate, some nematode species can hunker down into a state of suspended animation called the dauer stage — dauer means duration in German — in which they forestall feeding and grow a protective coating that shields them from extreme conditions.

Vishnivetskaya is not sure whether the nematodes her team pulled from the permafrost passed the epochs in dauer stage. But she speculated that nematodes could theoretically survive indefinitely if frozen stably.

It is ecological gospel that some creatures — from birds to butterflies to wildebeest — survive by migrating vast and hazardous distances to find favorable habitat. More recent discoveries hint at a different migratory mode: through time.

After protracted slumber in Earth’s icy fringes, bacteria, moss and nematodes are awakening in a new geologic epoch. And for these paragons of endurance, the weather is just right.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: biology; catastrophism; globalwarminghoax; godsgravesglyphs; greennewdeal; neandertal; neandertals; neanderthal; neanderthals; nematodes; permafrost
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-43 next last
To: SunkenCiv

*ping*


21 posted on 07/07/2019 2:07:13 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Who will think of the gerbils ? Just say no to Buttgiggity !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

Joe Biden woke up from his nap?


22 posted on 07/07/2019 2:08:10 PM PDT by Texas resident (Democrats=Enemy of People of The United States of America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

(heads at one end and) anuses at the other end....?????

those heads at one end are really tragic!......, these Old Worms are clearly over-qualified to be D candidates!


23 posted on 07/07/2019 2:10:02 PM PDT by faithhopecharity ( “Politicians are not born; they are excreted.” Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

These kind of findings have led to speculations that microbial life might survive in space frozen on some rocky chunk of planetary debris and then survive a fiery plunge to the surface of a planet. The theory has been used as a theory of how the earth might have been “seeded” from space. Its just a theory, not my proposal.


24 posted on 07/07/2019 2:33:45 PM PDT by Wuli
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Darksheare

What could possibly go wrong?...


25 posted on 07/07/2019 2:39:04 PM PDT by moose07 (DMCS (Dit Me Cong San ) Forward to the glorious world of next Tuesday !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

“Vishnivetskaya ... has coaxed million-year-old bacteria back to life on a petri dish. “

How many sci-fi horror flicks have started off this way?


26 posted on 07/07/2019 2:40:42 PM PDT by Rebelbase
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rebelbase

The Blob lives.


27 posted on 07/07/2019 2:53:18 PM PDT by spokeshave (If anything, Trump is guilty of attempting to obstruct injustice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

Time for a new pandemic.


28 posted on 07/07/2019 2:53:21 PM PDT by crusty old prospector
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

...Ancient life awakens amid thawing ice caps and permafrost..

Thinking zombie makers.


29 posted on 07/07/2019 2:57:29 PM PDT by Sasparilla ( I'm Not Tired of Winning)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

“Clocking in at a half-millimeter long...”
No kidding? Did they measure 4 seconds fast too?


30 posted on 07/07/2019 2:58:52 PM PDT by lefty-lie-spy (Stay Metal)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin
I want a Wooly Mammoth to come back to life...I want to know if it takes like chicken! 😋
31 posted on 07/07/2019 3:07:01 PM PDT by Deplorable American1776 (Proud to be a DeplorableAmerican with a Deplorable Family...even the dog is, too. :-))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wuli

see the movie Evolution.


32 posted on 07/07/2019 3:25:55 PM PDT by bdfromlv (Leavenworth hard time)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: ETL

Corny, campy but acceptable Doug McClure movie.


33 posted on 07/07/2019 3:29:55 PM PDT by wally_bert (Hola. Me llamo Inspector Carlton Lassiter. Me gusta queso.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: ETL

Corny, campy but acceptable Doug McClure movie.


34 posted on 07/07/2019 3:30:02 PM PDT by wally_bert (Hola. Me llamo Inspector Carlton Lassiter. Me gusta queso.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: wally_bert

Lol! Don’t forget the sequel, The People That Time Forgot!

Next up will be, The Movie That People Forgot!

Seriously, I think they’re fun, those old Sci-Fi flicks. I liked it too. And there really was a sequel, The People That Time Forgot. Came out a couple of years later in ‘77.

Here it is in full at YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYxzlXpTbE8


35 posted on 07/07/2019 3:39:23 PM PDT by ETL (REAL Russia collusion! Newly updated FR Page w/ Table of Contents! Click ETL)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: ETL

The sequel wasn’t that bad.


36 posted on 07/07/2019 3:41:02 PM PDT by wally_bert (Hola. Me llamo Inspector Carlton Lassiter. Me gusta queso.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: wally_bert
Related image
37 posted on 07/07/2019 3:55:46 PM PDT by ETL (REAL Russia collusion! Newly updated FR Page w/ Table of Contents! Click ETL)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

What can go wrong?

38 posted on 07/07/2019 5:27:51 PM PDT by ealgeone
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

I recall that the movie ‘Smilla’s Sense of Snow’ featured prehistoric arctic worms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smilla%27s_Sense_of_Snow_(film)

There was also an x-files episode I think.

Freegards


39 posted on 07/07/2019 5:34:37 PM PDT by Ransomed
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: moose07

One word: “hunger”.


40 posted on 07/07/2019 7:02:49 PM PDT by Darksheare (Those who support liberal "Republicans" summarily support every action by same.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-43 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson