Deep Earth zombie bugs went global

• Autores: Catherine Brahic
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 2947, 2013, pág. 12
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The same 19 microbes are found throughout Earth's crust from Canada to Indonesia, most likely living at the very limit of life. Nobody knows how these cosmopolitan bugs went global. On the surface, different places are home to different organisms, even if conditions are similar: Antarctica has penguins, but the Arctic has polar bears. A species only spreads widely if it can travel freely. Matt Schrenk is part of a global team probing depths up to 2 kilometers beneath the surface. They use mineshafts, wells and drilling rigs, scattered around the world. Samples are sent to the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole MA, where Sharon Grim analyses the DNA they hold.