Reply #32

In the discussion thread: Viking robots found life on Mars in 1976, scientists say [View all]

Thu Apr 12, 2012, 10:52 PM

32. Maybe, four million years ago,

that bacteria climbed aboard a space ship and headed off towards a distant blue dot.

Drug-Resistant Bacteria Found in 4-Million-Year-Old Cave
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/04/120411-drug-resistance-bacteria-caves-diseases-human-health-science/

Deep in the bowels of a pristine New Mexico cave, microbiologists have discovered nearly a hundred types of bacteria that can fight off modern antibiotic drugs.

The bacteria coat the walls of the Lechuguilla cave system on rock faces some 1,600 feet (487 meters) below Earth's surface. Until recently, the microscopic life-forms had encountered neither humans nor modern antibiotics.

That's because a thick dome of rock isolated the cave between four and seven million years ago. Any water that trickles through takes roughly ten thousand years to reach the cave's depths—which means the subterranean life has existed entirely in the absence of modern medicine.

While not infectious to humans, the cave bacteria can resist multiple classes of antibiotics, including new synthetic drugs. The discovery serves as an intriguing lead in the quest to understand how drug-resistant diseases emerge.

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53 replies	Author	Time	Post
Viking robots found life on Mars in 1976, scientists say [View all]	bananas	Apr 2012	OP
Cover-up?	KamaAina	Apr 2012	#1
Data dispute.	denbot	Apr 2012	#5
So which DUer makes the first bad David Bowie reference?	Blue_Tires	Apr 2012	#2
You just did.	baldguy	Apr 2012	#4
I for onne would like to welcome our new Bacterial Overlords	Typical NYC Lib	Apr 2012	#3
Don't worry. We still have...	El Supremo	Apr 2012	#6
Shit. Now I wanna hear a David Bowie album of Slim Whitman covers...	saras	Apr 2012	#8
Im holding out hope for the Ronnie Desmond Records.	Throckmorton	Apr 2012	#10
my mom loved this guy!	mwdem	Apr 2012	#30
Viking robot ?	dipsydoodle	Apr 2012	#7
Where can I get one?	aquart	Apr 2012	#17
it's a good one.	mopinko	Apr 2012	#41
It'd be a real bummer if it turned out to be e. coli	saras	Apr 2012	#9
Did they ever figure out how the Mars rovers' solar panels were scrubbed clean?	tridim	Apr 2012	#11
'Full Service' still exists on Mars...	BadtotheboneBob	Apr 2012	#16
Another day on DU, another pot of coffee, another keyboard . . .	colorado_ufo	Apr 2012	#34
Thank-yew... Thankyewverymuch...	BadtotheboneBob	Apr 2012	#38
? What? When? Where? Link?	aquart	Apr 2012	#18
Saw it on Fox's 'When Martian Bacteria Tweak'	pinboy3niner	Apr 2012	#20
I thought that was determined to be the wind.	obxhead	Apr 2012	#27
I remember the electric universe people were all excited about it	starroute	Apr 2012	#33
I wonder how fundies are going to rationalize this.	TNLib	Apr 2012	#12
Denial, obsfucation, and changing the subject	gtar100	Apr 2012	#14
I wonder how the scientists are going to rationalize this.	bananas	Apr 2012	#19
Very true.	harun	Apr 2012	#40
While this is arguably the best result yet, it's still not certain.	joshcryer	Apr 2012	#48
They will say that God made Mars and put the bacteria there, and then smugly point out	kestrel91316	Apr 2012	#25
Fly, Newt, fly. Those are your people. n/t	jtuck004	Apr 2012	#13
"They should send a microscope"	DaveJ	Apr 2012	#15
That idea may have originally come from me.	DCBob	Apr 2012	#44
bomb Mars now, dont let the warning come in the form	olderlib	Apr 2012	#21
Which just proves my point.	Jamastiene	Apr 2012	#22
Levin has been pushing this for years.	joshcryer	Apr 2012	#23
Decades actually.	DCBob	Apr 2012	#49
Yeah but there have been alternate explainations at every go.	joshcryer	Apr 2012	#50
Clearly we need more evidence before celebrating.	DCBob	Apr 2012	#52
Dear MSNBC: There WAS no Viking "robot". They were simple landers that stayed put in one place.	kestrel91316	Apr 2012	#24
A robot does not necessarily have to be mobile.	joshcryer	Apr 2012	#26
It was robotic in the sense it had mechanical scoopers and analytical equipment.	DCBob	Apr 2012	#37
An ATM is a robot.	AngryAmish	Apr 2012	#43
"...NASA found life on Mars..."	unkachuck	Apr 2012	#28
Can you imagine designer pot grown from Martian soil?	NBachers	Apr 2012	#29
36 years it took to make this announcement	lovuian	Apr 2012	#31
Maybe, four million years ago,	OnyxCollie	Apr 2012	#32
More like 4 billion, with a B, years	Paulie	Apr 2012	#46
I Believed Dr. Sagan....	solarman350	Apr 2012	#35
Two discussions in GD	bananas	Apr 2012	#36
Interesting. Thanks much.	great white snark	Apr 2012	#42
Heh. Dad will be pleased.	sofa king	Apr 2012	#39
Your dad is Gil Levin? nt	bananas	Apr 2012	#45
Nope, just one of an army of engineers.	sofa king	Apr 2012	#53
Life on Mars	padruig	Apr 2012	#47
I didn't even know the Vikings HAD robots	jberryhill	Apr 2012	#51

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