A microscopic algae-eater that lives in a Norway lake has now been identified as one of the Earth’s oldest living organisms.
The elusive, single-cell creature evolved about a billion years ago and did not fit in any of the known categories of living organisms – it was not an animal, plant, parasite, fungus or alga, they say.
Good news: Data now suggests that the bats are showing signs of recovery in the first caves hit by white nose syndrome in New York. More here. Plus here’s a link describing some of the research being done on this subject.
Note that the death toll listed in these stories is nothing more than an arbitrary exaggeration by government officials. The National Speleological Society estimates that the numbers are probably far less, and based on my own caving experience, I agree.
Caving for science! A bacteria, naturally resistant to all antibiotics, has been found in Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico.
Good news for wind power: A new study suggests that building wind turbines is a far greater problem to birds than actually operating them.
The uncertainty of science, however: the study also showed a wide range of effects, depending on bird species.
New data suggests that a microscopic creature called a tardigrade, along with its eggs, could survive an interplanetary trip.
An evening pause: Dakuwaqa’s Garden.
Saving the tree lobster, one of the world’s largest insects, thought extinct for 80 years.
A DNA autopsy of the Stone Age Iceman found in the Alps in 1991 has now told us something of his health and where his ancestors came from.
Russian scientists have resurrected a plant from 30,000 years ago, using fruit tissues that had been frozen in the Arctic.
The Russians celebrate drilling into Lake Vostok.
The Russians have confirmed that their scientists have successfully drilled into Lake Vostok in Antarctica.
Still no results, but this is not surprising, as these scientists will need time to analyze their data.
Update: More details from Science:
On Saturday, the drill had encountered water at about 3766 meters depth, but the team determined that it was a water lens sitting above the surface of the lake rather than the lake itself. The team collected water samples from the lens, and then kept drilling until reaching the lake surface itself. As expected, the pressurized water of the lake rose about 30 to 40 meters through the borehole and froze, plugging the borehole; the team will return next fall to retrieve the plug and examine it for signs of life.
A new first: A 3D printer-created lower jaw has been transplanted into an 83-year-old woman’s face.
Scientists have identified the oldest living thing on Earth, a patch of seagrass growing underwater in the Mediterranean.
Australian scientists sequenced the DNA of samples of the giant seagrass, Posidonia oceanic, from 40 underwater meadows in an area spanning more than 2,000 miles, from Spain to Cyprus.
The analysis, published in the journal PLos ONE, found the seagrass was between 12,000 and 200,000 years old and was most likely to be at least 100,000 years old. This is far older than the current known oldest species, a Tasmanian plant that is believed to be 43,000 years old.
Reality trumps science fiction: The Russians have safely left Lake Vostok, but the official word is that it is “too soon” to say whether they successfully drilled into the lake.
Unconfirmed reports in the Russian press today claimed that the drilling team in Antarctica has successfully reached Lake Vostok, more than two miles under the icecap.
No results yet. And since the story above spends more time talking about old silly stories about a hidden NAZI hideout in Antarctica than it does the Russian science effort there it should be taken with a grain of salt.
A U.S. government panel today unanimously recommended that scientists limit publication of their results relating to bird flu.
We found the potential risk of public harm to be of unusually high magnitude. In formulating our recommendations to the government, scientific journals and to the broader scientific community, we tried to balance the great risks against the benefits that could come from making the details of this research known. Because the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) found that there was significant potential for harm in fully publishing these results and that the harm exceeded the benefits of publication, we therefore recommended that the work not be fully communicated in an open forum. The NSABB was unanimous that communication of the results in the two manuscripts it reviewed should be greatly limited in terms of the experimental details and results.
As much as I am almost always in favor of the free flow of information, in this case this recommendation seems quite reasonable. The situation is in many ways identical to the government’s policy to routinely limit publication of the engineering details of its weaponry.
A 33,000-year-old dog skull found in a Siberian cave, when compared with other ancient dog remains found in a Belgium cave, suggest to scientists that the domestication of dogs took place separately in many different places.
Not good: A totally drug-resistant tuberculosis strain has emerged in India.
The discovery makes India the third country in which a completely drug-resistant form of the disease has emerged, following cases documented in Italy in 2007 and Iran in 2009.
Now for some important news: Fred and Ned, the cats with an astonishing 54 toes between them.
