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Date: 19 Oct 2006 13:17:25
From: INBOX ASTRONOMY: NEWS ALERT
Subject: MARS MAY BE COZY PLACE FOR HARDY MICROBES (STScI-PR06-48)
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FOR RELEASE: 1:00 pm (EDT) ober 19, 2006
Donna Weaver
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
(Phone: 410-338-4493; E-mail: dweaver@stsci.edu)
David Bobbitt
University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, Baltimore, Md.
(Phone: 410-385-6315; E-mail: bobbitt@umbi.umd.edu)
PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR06-48
MARS MAY BE COZY PLACE FOR HARDY MICROBES
A class of especially hardy microbes that live in some of the harshest
Earthly environments could flourish on cold Mars and other chilly
planets, according to a research team of astronomers and
microbiologists. In a two-year laboratory study, the researchers
discovered that some cold-adapted microorganisms not only survived but
reproduced at 30 degrees Fahrenheit, just below the freezing point of
water. The microbes also developed a defense mechanism that protected
them from cold temperatures. These close-up images, taken by an electron
microscope, reveal the tiny one-cell organisms, called halophiles and
methanogens,that were used in the study.
To read more about this research on the Web, visit:
http://hubblesite.org/news/2006/48
http://www.umbi.umd.edu/~comb
For more information, contact:
Neill Reid
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
(Phone: 410-338-4971, E-mail: inr@stsci.edu)
Shiladitya DasSarma
University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, Baltimore, Md.
(Phone: 410-234-8847; E-mail: dassarma@umbi.umd.edu)
-end-
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Date: 20 Oct 2006 22:51:13
From: Mike L'Mao
Subject: Re: MARS MAY BE COZY PLACE FOR HARDY MICROBES (STScI-PR06-48)
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LOOK..the conditions on Mars were NEVER conducive to life taking hold there.
There just wasn't enough time!!
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Date: 20 Oct 2006 19:22:07
From: John Popelish
Subject: Re: MARS MAY BE COZY PLACE FOR HARDY MICROBES (STScI-PR06-48)
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Mike L'Mao wrote:
> LOOK..the conditions on Mars were NEVER conducive to life taking hold there.
> There just wasn't enough time!!
...Unless life began several miles deep, on this planet and
then evolved the ability to move toward surface conditions.
Then both Earth and Mars have had about the same amount of
time for life to take hold.
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Date: 20 Oct 2006 21:50:26
From: John Popelish
Subject: Re: MARS MAY BE COZY PLACE FOR HARDY MICROBES (STScI-PR06-48)
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John Popelish wrote:
> Mike L'Mao wrote:
>
>> LOOK..the conditions on Mars were NEVER conducive to life taking hold
>> there. There just wasn't enough time!!
>
>
>
> ...Unless life began several miles deep, on this planet and then evolved
> the ability to move toward surface conditions.
>
> Then both Earth and Mars have had about the same amount of time for life
> to take hold.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/19/AR2006101901671.html
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Date: 21 Oct 2006 14:52:10
From: Mike L'Mao
Subject: Re: MARS MAY BE COZY PLACE FOR HARDY MICROBES (STScI-PR06-48)
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Ah hah! Ok. But, the idea of life actually starting in the subsurface has
major problems.
Life started on the surface then went down and evolved in the sub-surface as
bacteria.
That's what makes the most sense.
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Date: 21 Oct 2006 16:50:10
From: George Dishman
Subject: Re: MARS MAY BE COZY PLACE FOR HARDY MICROBES (STScI-PR06-48)
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"Mike L'Mao" <LMAO@telusplanet.com > wrote in message
news:uuq_g.29931$H7.16583@edtnps82...
> Ah hah! Ok. But, the idea of life actually starting in the subsurface has
> major problems.
> Life started on the surface then went down and evolved in the sub-surface
> as bacteria.
> That's what makes the most sense.
That's why there is so much interest in finding out
how long Mars had surface water. Was there enough
time for sufficient evolution to reach a point where
the biota could adapt to such dwindling niches.
George
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Date: 21 Oct 2006 13:15:34
From: John Popelish
Subject: Re: MARS MAY BE COZY PLACE FOR HARDY MICROBES (STScI-PR06-48)
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Mike L'Mao wrote:
> Ah hah! Ok. But, the idea of life actually starting in the subsurface has
> major problems.
Describe them. Contrast those problems with the different
problems life has getting started on the surface. You
appear to be claiming to know both sets of problems, in
detail, and have performed this comparison before you posted
this conclusion. Or did you skip a few steps?
> Life started on the surface then went down and evolved in the sub-surface as
> bacteria.
That is a conclusion, not an argument.
> That's what makes the most sense.
Only after you have produced and successfully defended a
well reasoned argument that reaches that conclusion.
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Date: 21 Oct 2006 19:05:13
From: Mike L'Mao
Subject: Re: MARS MAY BE COZY PLACE FOR HARDY MICROBES (STScI-PR06-48)
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"John Popelish" <jpopelish@rica.net > wrote in message
news:-rKdnYLaNYXWzqfYnZ2dnUVZ_oOdnZ2d@adelphia.com...
> Mike L'Mao wrote:
>> Ah hah! Ok. But, the idea of life actually starting in the subsurface
>> has major problems.
>
> Describe them. Contrast those problems with the different problems life
> has getting started on the surface. You appear to be claiming to know
> both sets of problems, in detail, and have performed this comparison
> before you posted this conclusion. Or did you skip a few steps?
>
>> Life started on the surface then went down and evolved in the sub-surface
>> as bacteria.
>
> That is a conclusion, not an argument.
>
>> That's what makes the most sense.
>
> Only after you have produced and successfully defended a well reasoned
> argument that reaches that conclusion.
Ok..what makes more sense...the ingredients of life (amino
acids-proteins-DNA etc.) happening on the surface from space
or 2+ miles into the crust or even the upper mantle at some 15 miles down?
The other argument is, how did life get to be
at those depths? Perhaps geologic subduction over billions of years and
subsequent hydrothermal mixing?
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Date: 21 Oct 2006 20:28:51
From: John Popelish
Subject: Re: MARS MAY BE COZY PLACE FOR HARDY MICROBES (STScI-PR06-48)
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Mike L'Mao wrote:
> Ok..what makes more sense...the ingredients of life (amino
> acids-proteins-DNA etc.) happening on the surface from space
> or 2+ miles into the crust or even the upper mantle at some 15 miles down?
But, early in the planets history, the conditions two miles
down, now may have been what was happening on the surface.
Things on the surface of Earth are so different, today,
because of the history of life, here, that it is very hard
to visualize what the surface and near surface was really
like before life. We need to study some other planets,
especially ones that are now, much like Earth was billions
of years age, to find out whether life can exist on those
places, and what forms it takes. I was just tweaking you
for being a surface chauvinist.
> The other argument is, how did life get to be
> at those depths?
Possibly, spontaneously formed, there. Since we don't know
exactly how life spontaneously formed anywhere, it is hard
to say exactly what conditions favor that process, as
opposed to proliferation, later. Perhaps conditions that
favor wide proliferation and variation are not best for the
flip from nonliving to living. Nobody yet knows.
> Perhaps geologic subduction over billions of years and
> subsequent hydrothermal mixing?
Perhaps.
>
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