Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Wed, 6 Feb 2013 17:00:00 PST Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101031/08132811661/dailydirt-life-abhors-vacuum.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101031/08132811661/dailydirt-life-abhors-vacuum.shtml

Evidence of life in a subglacial lake in Antarctica has been found, and it could mean that bacteria are much more widespread than we previously thought. Researchers still need to verify this discovery and make sure they're not looking at bacterial contamination from other sources. [url]

Frost flowers are salty ice crystals that form on calm ocean surfaces, and arctic sea meadows of these flowers may become more common with climate change near the north/south poles. About a million bacteria live in the few milliliters of frozen saltwater of a frost flower, and studying these cells could teach us more about how hardy some extremophile organisms can be. [url]

Bacteria living below the ocean and at the ocean surface have it easy compared to bacteria that live 6 miles above sea level in the troposphere. Microorganisms could play a role in cloud formation, and there is a lot we don't know about how life survives in different parts of the atmosphere. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101031/08132811661 Wed, 16 Jan 2013 17:00:00 PST Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101110/19051611808/dailydirt-life-life-everywhere.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101110/19051611808/dailydirt-life-life-everywhere.shtml

Astronauts have actually discovered a new species of life... while training in an underground cave. The astronauts were taking a week-long ESA CAVES underground training course to prepare for duties on the international space station and to acclimate to working under extreme conditions, and they found a new kind of crustacean. [url]

An ecosystem exists in the deepest layer of the Earth's ocean crust, in the gabbroic layer, living off hydrocarbons such as methane and benzene. This discovery could mean there may be life even deeper, possibly in the Earth's mantle. [url]

Microbes isolated beneath 65 feet of Antarctic ice might define a new limit for life to survive. These little organisms live in Lake Vida without much sunlight, without oxygen, at -13°C, in acidic salt water. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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