Ancient microbes in cave?

[Dave]

The pictures might be worthy of the "Wow!" thread!

Bugs from way back?

Floating in pockets of fluid, the microbes are likely new to science and may be up to 50,000 years old, a NASA researcher says.

[joeactor]

The pictures might be worthy of the "Wow!" thread!

Looks like something out of a Sci-fi movie... very cool...

[Dragonia]

Very interesting article, but this:

Boston took samples from pockets of fluid trapped inside the crystals in 2008 and 2009, under the auspices of New Mexico Tech. Her team was able to "wake up" dormant microbes in that fluid and grow cultures, she revealed today at the meeting. The organisms are genetically distinct from anything known on Earth, according to her team's analysis, although they are most similar to other microbes found in caves and volcanic terrain.

freaks me out! They better be careful what they bring back to life! I've seen Jurassic Park, all of 'em, and I know what can happen!

[Recusant]

Thanks for the excellent find, Gloucester!

Very interesting article, but this:

Boston took samples from pockets of fluid trapped inside the crystals in 2008 and 2009, under the auspices of New Mexico Tech. Her team was able to "wake up" dormant microbes in that fluid and grow cultures, she revealed today at the meeting. The organisms are genetically distinct from anything known on Earth, according to her team's analysis, although they are most similar to other microbes found in caves and volcanic terrain.

freaks me out! They better be careful what they bring back to life! I've seen Jurassic Park, all of 'em, and I know what can happen!

Probably you're joking (and I do appreciate the humor) but your idea is also intriguing. I suspected when I read the story that Gloucester found that these microbes would be archaea. Following a link in the story I found a paper from a few years ago about microbes discovered in those caves, and yes, they were archaea. If the little critters that were apparently found inside the crystals are also archaea, which seems very likely, then we have little to worry about, since archaea are not pathogenic to humans.