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London (UPI) Aug 23, 2010 Bacteria from cliffs on the south coast of England have proved themselves hardy astronauts, surviving a year and a half as space travelers, researchers say. Taken from the cliffs near the small fishing village of Beer in Devon, the bacteria were placed on the outside of the International Space Station to see how they would deal with harsh conditions in Earth orbit, the BBC reported. The bacteria were sent up still sitting on, and in, small chunks of cliff rock. They were placed in experiment boxes on the outside of the station, exposed to the vacuum of space. Scientists inspecting the bugs after a year and a half exposure to extreme ultraviolet light, cosmic rays and dramatic shifts in temperature say many were still alive. The survivors, brought back to Earth, are thriving in a laboratory at the Open University in Milton Keynes, the BBC reported. The experiment was intended to find microbes that could be useful to future astronauts who leave Earth orbit to explore the rest of the solar system. "It has been proposed that bacteria could be used in life-support systems to recycle everything," OU researcher Karen Olsson-Francis said.
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We Are Not Alone, And This Is How Life BeginsBoston MA (SPX) Aug 20, 2010 A revolutionary series of discoveries ushers in a new paradigm in our understanding of how life began. In this month's issue of the online Journal of Cosmology, Dr. Michael Russell and colleagues, of NASA, JPL, and the California Institute of Technology, have detailed a bold new theory, supported by considerable evidence, demonstrating how life emerged in the tempestuous water-world that was our ... read more |
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