3 ms·
tl;dr - A lake flooding a salt mine might have revived a salt-loving (halophile) bacterium (archaea?) - Halobacteriales - that might have been present in spore
by gilleain 3y ago
tl;dr - A lake flooding a salt mine might have revived a salt-loving (halophile) bacterium (archaea?) - Halobacteriales - that might have been present in spore form or other hibernation.
Side note : extremophiles are fascinating as they each have 'superpowers' - like tolerating 25% salt, or above-boiling water, or very cold. The way they do this is varied, and includes changing the balance of lipids in their cell membrane to change the mechanical properties of it. Or altering enzymes to make them more heat-resistant by tying the ends together.
- psychoslave 3y agoWe agree they are fascinating. I always found the term extremophile a bit anthropocentric though. From such a life form, living in "so cold/salted/whatever" environment will look extreme.
- svara 3y agoThey live on the extremes of the physical conditions under which life is found on earth, that's not anthropocentric.
- fever_ 3y agoI think the point is that to that lifeform it's perfectly normal humans calling it 'extreme' is what makes it anthropocentric. To those lifeforms our environment would be 'extreme'.
- lukas099 3y agoBut it's not just humans that the environment is extreme to, it's every other species of life on Earth besides the few that are adapted to it.
- red-iron-pine 3y agonah. there are literally thousands of types of bugs in the rainforest, ones we're still just identifying. meanwhile there are just a handful of these extremophiles, and they're often just bacteria, and limited to just a few areas. they are objectively rare, and that's not a "humans looking at them" thing.