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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThis 830-million-year-old crystal might contain life. And we're about to open it.
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NPR
@NPR
830-million-year-old salt crystals originally found in central Australia might be the inhabits for microorganisms. A research team is ready to open the crystals and find out what is inside.
npr.org
This 830-million-year-old crystal might contain life. And we're about to open it
A recent study in the journal Geology finds microorganisms trapped in an 830-million-year-old salt crystal. The researchers say it might still be alive.
10:10 PM · May 24, 2022
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/24/1100972368/830-million-year-old-salt-crystal-microscopic-life-study-discovery
From lemons to ham, salt is a handy food preservative. But researchers studying some really old salt crystals found them preserving something else evidence of life.
"There are little cubes of the original liquid from which that salt grew. And the surprise for us is that we also saw shapes that are consistent with what we would expect from microorganisms," said Kathy Benison, a geologist at West Virginia University. "And they could be still surviving within that 830-million-year-old preserved microhabitat."
The salt crystals (aka halite) that Benison and her team studied were originally found in central Australia. Benison was part of the team that published these findings in the journal Geology.
This video of a different salt crystal shows how the liquid looks when moving inside.
*snip*
sunonmars
(8,656 posts)Why oh why do they keep thinking this a good idea.
Delmette2.0
(4,167 posts)But I do remember the story of Pandora's Box.
Samrob
(4,298 posts)grumpyduck
(6,240 posts)We're going to let those aliens out!!!!!!!!!!!
Effete Snob
(8,387 posts)Karadeniz
(22,537 posts)highplainsdem
(49,005 posts)KarenS
(4,081 posts)Effete Snob
(8,387 posts)Im afraid to open it.
tenderfoot
(8,437 posts)ret5hd
(20,501 posts)DeSantis Zone.
Either way, its a virus that:
1) if youre white you turn Black
2) if youre straight you turn gay
3) theres a vaccine, but a lot of us arent that worried about it
our houses are neater, our wardrobes are better, and our taste in music just made a quantum jump.
4) TX, OK, FL, etc governors enforce the tightest lockdown in the world, etc
What do you think? Better than Sharknado?
Nittersing
(6,362 posts)canetoad
(17,169 posts)At least you didn't refer to a drop-bear.
Goonch
(3,608 posts)Kid Berwyn
(14,913 posts)maxrandb
(15,334 posts)[link:http://
|Midnight Writer
(21,769 posts)Ilsa
(61,695 posts)edbermac
(15,941 posts)BumRushDaShow
(129,124 posts)(ETA, the replies in this thread have me )
sakabatou
(42,158 posts)Kaleva
(36,312 posts)DFW
(54,410 posts)If there is 800,000 year old life in there, and people start taking injections to alter their DNA, we may have to completely rewrite our Social Security schedule..........
sdfernando
(4,935 posts)Its The Man Trap!!!!!!
Thunderbeast
(3,417 posts)Takket
(21,578 posts)Now, I'm off to watch some movie called The Andromeda Strain
Xolodno
(6,395 posts)The land that time forgot.