WHAT IS MIGHTIER THAN A COCKROACH

A new type of organism discovered in an Arctic tunnel came to life in the lab after being frozen for 32,000 years.

The deep-freeze bacteria could point to new methods of cryogenics, and they are the sort of biology scientists say might exist on Mars and other planets and moons.

The existence of microorganisms in these harsh environments suggests that we might one day discover similar life forms in the glaciers or permafrost of Mars or in the ice crust and oceans of Jupiter’s moon Europa,"

Other microbes have been discovered in similar frigid environments, sometimes clinging to pockets of liquid water in ice packs. And some microbes survive in ice as spores, but they need to be cultured to bring them to life.

NASA described the newfound critter as "the first fully described, validated species ever found alive in ancient ice."

"They immediately started swimming when the ice melted," and the cryopreserved bacteria were instantly ready to eat and multiply.

The creatures found might be able to survive in their suspended state for millions of years.
Just think about it millions of years.



Seen under a microscope, the live bacteria are stained green. Dead ones are red.
Credit: NASA/MSFC/R.Hoover




The Most Extreme Creatures.




Extremophilic microbes are a wild bunch. They can be found thriving in some of the most hostile environments imaginable – swimming in near-boiling water, eating rocks, lounging in sub-zero temperatures, and hanging out where radiation levels rival nuclear reactors.

They’re tougher than duct tape, boldly going where humans dare not and cannot.

Extremophiles are also a multimillion dollar-a-year business – some of them are employed to eat oil and help clean up spills. Others have important applications in medical research. But for many scientists, these hardy microbes are interesting because they suggest the potential for life on other planets.

Do you know what is Mightier than a cockroach?
Toxitolerant organisms can withstand high levels of damaging agents. They can be found swimming around in benzene saturated water or in the core of a nuclear reactor.

One species of bacteria, Deinococcus radiodurans, can withstand a 15,000 gray dose of radiation – 10 grays would kill a human and it takes over 1,000 grays to kill a cockroach. Extraterrestrial life forms would most likely need to possess similar tolerances to radiation, as the atmosphere on other planets, or lack thereof, filters out much less radiation than Earth’s.

You can read more here: 'Live Science'. Enjoy!

THE ESSAY I WILL REMEMBER

Pick a subject, any subject at all and then write about it. You will have all week to prepare it and the next week you will present it to the class .That is the project the teacher gave her class.
For fourteen and fifteen year olds, deciding what to write about as a school project can be a difficult task, but one young man knew exactly what he wanted to write about.

Well he wrote his essay and he presented it to the class, but the grades have not come back yet and he is worried about whether or not it was good enough so he asked me to post it on my blog. He's a bit of a worry wort and he would like your brutally honest opinion. So here it is exactly as he wrote it.

Genocide: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

By XXXX XXXXXX

History, it seems, has a tendency to repeat itself. Genocide is the mass extermination or discrimination against an entire group of people based on ethnicity , religion, or political beliefs. The earliest form of a genocide can be seen in the bible when the Egyptians enslaved the Jewish people. The first major publicized was during WWI when the Turkish government, killed over two million Armenians and over one million Greeks. Then during the 1930’s and 40’s, a mass extermination of millions of Jews, prisoners of war , and any and all people deemed as “unwanted” by fascist Germany during WWII. Then during the 90’s, the Serbian government killed eight thousand male Bosnians. Today, millions of dafurian people are being slaughtered

The Point to get across is the fact that some people will omit any accusations that a genocide happened. Like today’s neo Nazis who deny that the Holocaust ever happened, Turkey denies any part in the genocide during world war one. Serbia denied ever killing those eight thousand male Bosnians. So it would come as no surprise that Sudan denies having ever done anything to the Dafur people.

When you turn on the T.V today, you see only the wars in Iraq, the war on terror, or how the stock market was down a few meaningless numbers. What you do not see is the men, women, and children that are being killed today in the dafur region. Haile Selassie once said that “Through out history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph.” We owe it to ourselves and for the sake of all that is good and great in this country, to tell the government of the United States to act now and declare a war on the true ‘Terror’.

Now close your eyes for a second here. Imagine you are just a simple everyday person, except for one thing. You are starving because your government denies your ability to buy food. Now imagine you are a woman who has been raped, yet you can do nothing because the police are against you. Now imagine you are a child, a child that walks alone because your parents were slaughtered by the government and there bodies burned so you can not give them a proper burial. Now imagine you are a refuge from dafur, just arrived in America, ready to finally have peace. But, you can never have any peace because of the nightmares that linger on, the screams of terror and pain, the smell of burning flesh, the cries of the children who are dying. Most of all, you can never have peace because the people in the city you are in are oblivious to what is going on in your homeland. You would never have peace because you would feel it is your duty to let it be known what is happening, for all those who never made it. For those who were born and killed in a world so cold and unjust.

So do not deny, and do not forget. History has told us before to be alert, to never allow for deaths of millions to happen again, yet we still do. Genocide still happens today, and I believe we should let history be history, and never let it predict our futures. And above all, do not let one death be a tragedy and a death of a million just be a statistic.

CAFFEINATED FOOD, WHAT'S NEXT ?

Scientist develops caffeinated doughnuts Fri Jan 26, 7:40 AM ET

DURHAM. N.C. - That cup of coffee just not getting it done anymore? How about a Buzz Donut or a Buzzed Bagel? That's what Doctor Robert Bohannon, a Durham, North Carolina, molecular scientist, has come up with. Bohannon says he's developed a way to add caffeine to baked goods, without the bitter taste of caffeine. Each piece of pastry is the equivalent of about two cups of coffee.

I can't imagine why, but to each his own?