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Hot Topic
Origins
Extreme Life
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| Wanted: Easy-Going Martian Roommates |
| Topic: Extreme Life |
07/13/09 |
| Mars is not for the finicky. If something does live there, it's likely going to be similar to the more adaptive life forms on our planet. A group of researchers is studying a particular microbe that they think could be a model for Mars life. |
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| Outer Space Oreos |
| Topic: Extreme Life |
05/07/09 |
| Scientists have previously exposed organisms and biomolecules to the many rigors of space, but those experiments only managed to take "before" and "after" pictures of their samples. A planned small satellite will monitor on a continuous basis the negative effects of space on biology. |
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| Life's Boiling Point |
| Topic: Extreme Life |
11/10/08 |
| Some proteins can work above the boiling point of water, but these vital biomolecules may have a harder time evolving at high temperature. A new project is searching for the maximum temperature for protein-based life. |
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| Seeing Life in Viruses |
| Topic: Extreme Life |
10/27/08 |
| From Astrobiology Magazine, European Edition is a story about research conducted by Kirsi Lehto of the University of Turku in Finland. Lehto studies plant viruses with an eye toward their role in the origin and evolution of life. |
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| “Alien” Water Bears Amaze Scientists |
| Topic: Extreme Life |
10/16/08 |
| Tardigrades, commonly known as "water bears", have been reared under laboratory conditions and subjected to a barrage of tests. Their survivability shows that animals can survive extreme conditions, and also may indicate how humans could adapt to the rigors of space. |
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| Swashbuckling Scientists Discover Northern Vents |
| Topic: Extreme Life |
09/18/08 |
| From Astrobiology Magazine, European Edition is a story of how researchers recently explored the ocean floor between Greenland and Norway. They discovered hydrothermal vents that support an extremophile ecosystem. The find supports the idea that biological communities could exist on other worlds. |
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| Stars of the Deep |
| Topic: Extreme Life |
07/24/08 |
| Researchers studying life deep beneath the Earth's surface in a South African platinum mine have discovered microbes with a unique appearance. In fact, these tiny bacteria are the 'stars' of their community. |
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| Making Sense of Mars Methane |
| Topic: Extreme Life |
06/09/08 |
| Research on methane at a Mexican salt flat could help reveal the source of methane that has been detected in the atmosphere of Mars. But first scientists have to decipher the unique – and seemingly contradictory - isotopic signature of the Mexican methane. |
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| Frozen Life Cubes |
| Topic: Extreme Life |
03/17/08 |
| What’s living in Antarctica’s ice-covered Lake Vostok? Scientists hope to find out by studying an ice core recovered from some two miles below the surface, just above the lake itself. |
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