# 34,000-Year-Old Organisms Found Buried Alive! **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/34-000-year-old-organisms-found-buried-alive/567475 **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share **Created:** [January 13, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/34-000-year-old-organisms-found-buried-alive/567475 "2011-01-13T16:56:15Z") **Posts on this page:** 12 **Page:** 1
### Author: ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham) #### Post date: [January 13, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/34-000-year-old-organisms-found-buried-alive/567475/1 "2011-01-13T16:56:15Z")
That’s the Headline: [http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20110113/sc\_livescience/34000yearoldorganismsfoundburiedalive](http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20110113/sc_livescience/34000yearoldorganismsfoundburiedalive) > [@](#): > > It’s a tale that has all the trappings of a cult 1960s sci-fi movie: Scientists bring back ancient salt crystals, dug up from deep below Death Valley for climate research. The sparkling crystals are carefully packed away until, years later, a young, unknown researcher takes a second look at the 34,000-year-old crystals and discovers, trapped inside, something strange. Something … alive. > > Thankfully this story doesn’t end with the destruction of the human race, but with a satisfied scientist finishing his Ph.D. > > “It was actually a very big surprise to me,” said Brian Schubert, who discovered ancient bacteria living within tiny, fluid-filled chambers inside the salt crystals. > > Salt crystals grow very quickly, imprisoning whatever happens to be floating - or living - nearby inside tiny bubbles just a few microns across, akin to naturally made, miniature snow-globes. > > “It’s permanently sealed inside the salt, like little time capsules,” said Tim Lowenstein, a professor in the geology department at Binghamton University and Schubert’s advisor at the time. > > Lowenstein said new research indicates this process occurs in modern saline lakes, further backing up Schubert’s astounding discovery, which was first revealed about a year ago. The new findings, along with details of Schubert’s work, are published in the January 2011 edition of GSA Today, the publication of the Geological Society of America. > > Schubert, now an assistant researcher at the University of Hawaii, said the bacteria - a salt-loving sort still found on Earth today - were shrunken and small, and suspended in a kind of hibernation state. Give it time. It might still end with the destruction of the human race. I do wonder what the ultimate source of the energy was that kept al this going > [@](#): > > The key to the microbes’ millennia-long survival may be their fellow captives - algae, of a group called Dunaliella. > > “The most exciting part to me was when we were able to identify the Dunaliella cells in there,” Schubert said, “because there were hints that could be a food source.” > > With the discovery of a potential energy source trapped alongside the bacteria, it has begun to emerge that, like an outlandish Dr. Seuss invention (hello, Who-ville), these tiny chambers could house entire, microscopic ecosystems. Yeah, but what was keeping the algae going? ---
### Author: ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros) #### Post date: [January 13, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/34-000-year-old-organisms-found-buried-alive/567475/2 "2011-01-13T18:00:21Z")
Wow…Okay, confession, I read the title of the OP wrong and was horribly confused… ---
### Author: ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles) #### Post date: [January 13, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/34-000-year-old-organisms-found-buried-alive/567475/3 "2011-01-13T18:03:25Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It might still end with the destruction of the human race. As if we’d be that lucky… ---
### Author: ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs) #### Post date: [January 13, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/34-000-year-old-organisms-found-buried-alive/567475/4 "2011-01-13T19:03:13Z")
> [@](#): > > Thankfully this story doesn’t end with the destruction of the human race, but with a satisfied scientist finishing his Ph.D. > > “It was actually a very big surprise to me,” said Brian Schubert, who discovered ancient bacteria living within tiny, fluid-filled chambers inside the salt crystals. **Schubert:** “Don’t. Worry. It’s. Perfectly. _\_ Safe.” _\_ ---
### Author: ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678) #### Post date: [January 13, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/34-000-year-old-organisms-found-buried-alive/567475/5 "2011-01-13T19:19:28Z")
the thread title needed a “and its pissed!” tacked onto the end for dramatic effect. ---
### Author: ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe) #### Post date: [January 13, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/34-000-year-old-organisms-found-buried-alive/567475/6 "2011-01-13T22:43:00Z")
> [@Meatros](#): > > Wow…Okay, confession, I read the title of the OP wrong and was horribly confused… Oh, good. I’m not the only one. 😛 But I just clicked out from the blowjob thread, so my mind was already in the gutter. The OP reminds me of [these things](http://www.abundantearth.com/store/ecosphere.html). Got one for my mother years ago as a Mother’s Day gift and the damn thing went for at least two or three years that I know of… ---
### Author: ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek) #### Post date: [January 14, 2011, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/34-000-year-old-organisms-found-buried-alive/567475/7 "2011-01-14T01:09:47Z")
> [@fuzzypickles](#): > > As if we’d be that lucky… Personally, I welcome our new salt-bacteria overlords. > [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > The OP reminds me of [these things](http://www.abundantearth.com/store/ecosphere.html). Got one for my mother years ago as a Mother’s Day gift and the damn thing went for at least two or three years that I know of… I have one of those that I got for Christmas in '02. One of the two shrimp that it came with is still swimming along happily. Or whatever passes for happy in a shrimp that’s been imprisoned by himself in a 4 inch glass sphere for 8+ years. ---
### Author: ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty) #### Post date: [January 14, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/34-000-year-old-organisms-found-buried-alive/567475/8 "2011-01-14T02:04:19Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > I have one of those that I got for Christmas in '02. One of the two shrimp that it came with is still swimming along happily. Or whatever passes for happy in a shrimp that’s been imprisoned by himself in a 4 inch glass sphere for 8+ years. I can only imagine the arguments those two had that led up to such a thing. ---
### Author: ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes) #### Post date: [January 14, 2011, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/34-000-year-old-organisms-found-buried-alive/567475/9 "2011-01-14T03:14:07Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Oh, good. I’m not the only one. 😛 But I just clicked out from the blowjob thread, so my mind was already in the gutter. Me too, but I was just listening to my brothers trying to out-trash talk each other. So I think I have an excuse. ---
### Author: ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus) #### Post date: [January 14, 2011, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/34-000-year-old-organisms-found-buried-alive/567475/10 "2011-01-14T06:01:33Z")
My mind has a second home in the gutter, so I too fell prey to this topic header. I bet this salt would fetch a fortune in the haute-cuisine market. ---
### Author: ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale) #### Post date: [January 14, 2011, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/34-000-year-old-organisms-found-buried-alive/567475/11 "2011-01-14T09:06:13Z")
I bet that bacteria is kicking itself for not putting its money on a compound interest bank account. ---
### Author: ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678) #### Post date: [January 14, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/34-000-year-old-organisms-found-buried-alive/567475/12 "2011-01-14T14:30:50Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > I bet that bacteria is kicking itself for not putting its money on a compound interest bank account. Well, bacteria aren’t known for being Einsteins.