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This 830-million-year-old crystal might contain life. And we're about to open it
NPR ^ | May 24, 20224:37 PM ET | MICHAEL LEVITT SARAH HANDEL

Posted on 05/24/2022 4:27:59 PM PDT by BenLurkin

From lemons to ham, salt is a handy food preservative. But researchers studying some really old salt crystals found them preserving something else — evidence of life.

"There are little cubes of the original liquid from which that salt grew. And the surprise for us is that we also saw shapes that are consistent with what we would expect from microorganisms," said Kathy Benison, a geologist at West Virginia University. "And they could be still surviving within that 830-million-year-old preserved microhabitat."

The salt crystals (aka halite) that Benison and her team studied were originally found in central Australia. Benison was part of the team that published these findings in the journal Geology.

This video of a different salt crystal shows how the liquid looks when moving inside.

Although the idea that these microorganisms could still be alive is mind-boggling, Benison said science backed it up.

"We know by studying life in modern extreme environments that there are organisms that are able to undergo, like, a survival mode, almost like a hibernation. They're still alive, but they slow down all of their biological activities," she said.

Benison suspects that if there are in fact microorganisms in the crystal, they could be alive in a dormant state. The halite would need to be opened in order to confirm that this is in fact organic matter, and that it is still alive.

While cracking into that crystal might seem a bold choice — we're currently battling a global pandemic caused by microscopic viruses, after all — Benison plans to do just that. But she said there was no need to worry.

"It does sound like a really bad B-movie, but there is a lot of detailed work that's been going on for years to try to figure out how to do that in the safest possible way," she said.

Bonnie Baxter, a biologist at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, was not involved in the study, but still offered some comforting words.

"An environmental organism that has never seen a human is not going to have the mechanism to get inside of us and cause disease," she said. "So I personally, from a science perspective, have no fear of that."

Baxter said these findings weren't just a major step in studying the origins of life on Earth, but also opened the door to finding life on other planets.

"And when we're thinking about Mars, we're talking about billions of years, probably, since microbial life could have been flourishing in the waters on that planet. And so we really need longer experiments in rocks that have been around longer on our planet in order to understand what could happen on Mars," Baxter said.

And maybe, just maybe, they could move us another step closer to finding evidence of aliens.


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs; michaellevitt; sarahhandel; whatcouldgowrong; xplanets
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1 posted on 05/24/2022 4:27:59 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: SunkenCiv

2 posted on 05/24/2022 4:28:30 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

I’m not.


3 posted on 05/24/2022 4:29:04 PM PDT by Born in 1950 (Anti left, nothing else.)
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To: BenLurkin

Don’t do it!


4 posted on 05/24/2022 4:29:18 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: BenLurkin

Isn’t this how many zombie movies start?


5 posted on 05/24/2022 4:29:23 PM PDT by dynachrome (“We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the US economy.” Rand Paul)
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To: BenLurkin

COVID-22


6 posted on 05/24/2022 4:30:04 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: BenLurkin

Being a salt baby I’ve probly eaten bazillions of those little critters. They should find a less tasty place to hide.


7 posted on 05/24/2022 4:30:41 PM PDT by OldWarBaby
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To: BenLurkin

The shapes in this salt crystal are consistent with what would be expected for microorganisms.

8 posted on 05/24/2022 4:30:48 PM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: BenLurkin

9 posted on 05/24/2022 4:30:48 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: BenLurkin

Andromeda Strain or X Files?

I watched both and they both had a story line like that.


10 posted on 05/24/2022 4:34:20 PM PDT by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith… )
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To: BenLurkin
8-E1-CF3-FD-E1-AB-4035-8-C74-FD69361-D3851
11 posted on 05/24/2022 4:36:45 PM PDT by Born in 1950 (Anti left, nothing else.)
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To: BenLurkin

Impossible...the earth is only 6000 years old...right?


12 posted on 05/24/2022 4:37:57 PM PDT by barney10
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To: BenLurkin

NPR....HaHaHaHa...wake me when the fools revoke their foolish drivel. And please tell me how this was dated to the exact 830,000,000 year day.


13 posted on 05/24/2022 4:38:34 PM PDT by Fungi
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To: BenLurkin

14 posted on 05/24/2022 4:39:15 PM PDT by fruser1
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To: BenLurkin
"An environmental organism that has never seen a human is not going to have the mechanism to get inside of us and cause disease," she said. "So I personally, from a science perspective, have no fear of that."

Now, hold my beer while I slice this puppy open!

15 posted on 05/24/2022 4:41:29 PM PDT by fruser1
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To: BenLurkin

16 posted on 05/24/2022 4:41:38 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
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To: BenLurkin
The Andromeda Strain (1971) | Sci-Fi Saturdays | RetroZap
17 posted on 05/24/2022 4:41:59 PM PDT by ealgeone
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To: BenLurkin

Pandora’s Box, anyone?


18 posted on 05/24/2022 4:45:58 PM PDT by simpson96
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To: BenLurkin

Great. Now Dr. Fauci will be locking us down for trilobite-pox.


19 posted on 05/24/2022 4:49:27 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference of the Devil...-Churchill)
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To: Fungi
"And please tell me how this was dated to the exact 830,000,000 year day."

No doubt 830 million years is an estimate with plus or minus some number of years possible.
As for how, there are dozens of radiometric & other methods, absolute & relative, which could be used, depending on the exact conditions at the site in Australia.
Good chance that a number of different methods were used to confirm and narrow the estimated range.

The same experiments have long been done on other salt crystals, younger, from other deposits.
The difference is these particular crystals are found to be older than those others, the oldest such found so far.

20 posted on 05/24/2022 5:09:25 PM PDT by BroJoeK (future DDG 134 -- we remember)
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