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<\/div>Wakey Wakey<\/h2>
After scientists gave them a little snack, some 101.5-million-year-old bacteria sprang back to life after an extremely long nap.<\/p>
Researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology dug up chunks of clay from 70 meters beneath the ocean floor. They injected it with sugar and ammonia and, to their surprise, Ars Technica <\/a><\/em>reports<\/a> that colonies of bacteria quickly chowed down on the meal. It’s a bizarre discovery, and one that suggests that organisms can survive more inhospitable environments<\/a> than scientists thought.<\/p> Most shocking — even more shocking than ancient bacteria surviving this long — is that the bacteria found in the clay were mostly aerobic.<\/p> According to the study<\/a>, which was published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications<\/em>, the bacteria needed oxygen to live. Without it, bacterial growth quickly stopped. But there’s almost no oxygen to be found at the seafloor, especially under 70 meters of clay.<\/p> It’s technically possible that younger, more modern bacteria could have seeped down into the clay, Ars Technica <\/em>reports, but the scientists think it was too densely packed to allow that.<\/p> “What we found was that life extends all the way from the seafloor to the underlying rocky basement,” University of Rhode Island oceanographer and study co-author Steven D’Hondt said in an accompanying video<\/a>. “And what [lead author Yuki Morono’s] paper now shows is that those organisms are not only alive in the deepest form of sediment, but they’re capable of growing and dividing.”<\/p> READ MORE:<\/strong> Bacteria live despite burial in seafloor mud for 100 million years<\/a> [Ars Technica<\/em>]<\/p> More on ancient history: <\/strong>Scientists Say Ancient Earth Was Completely Covered in Water<\/a><\/em><\/p> The post Scientists Revive 100-Million-Year-Old Lifeforms<\/a> appeared first on Futurism<\/a>.<\/p> See the original post: Wakey Wakey After scientists gave them a little snack, some 101.5-million-year-old bacteria sprang back to life after an extremely long nap. Researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology dug up chunks of clay from 70 meters beneath the ocean floor. Continue reading Wake Me Up<\/h2>
It’s Alive!<\/h2>
Scientists Revive 100-Million-Year-Old Lifeforms<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"