Extremophile Hunt Begins

User rating: 4.6 / 5 after 35 vote(s)

Spirochaeta americana extreme-loving microbes from Californias Mono Lake. Hoover et al discovered them during a previous extremophile-hunting expedition.
Spirochaeta americana, extreme-loving microbes from California's Mono Lake. Hoover et al discovered them during a previous extremophile-hunting expedition.

A team of scientists has just left the country to explore a very strange lake in Antarctica; it is filled with, essentially, extra-strength laundry detergent. No, the researchers haven't spilled coffee on their lab coats. They are hunting for extremophiles -- tough little creatures that thrive in conditions too extreme for most other living things.


Full story »

All News summaries from General Science news
All News summaries for February 08, 2008

Study: No gender differences in math performance

16 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
We've all heard it. Many of us in fact believe it. Girls just aren't as good at math as boys. But is it true? After sifting through mountains of data - including SAT results and math scores from 7 million students who were ...

Plant steroids offer new paradigm for how hormones work

18 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
Steroids bulk up plants just as they do human athletes, but the playbook of molecular signals that tell the genes to boost growth and development in plant cells is far more complicated than in human and animal cells. A new ...

Prevailing theory of aging challenged in Stanford worm study

48 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
Age may not be rust after all. Specific genetic instructions drive aging in worms, report researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Their discovery contradicts the prevailing theory that aging is a buildup ...

UC Santa Barbara chemist goes nano with CoQ10

1 hour ago | User rating: not rated yet
If Bruce Lipshutz has his way, you may soon be buying bottles of water brimming with the life-sustaining coenzyme CoQ10 at your local Costco.

Region hit hard by 1993 floods showed economic resiliency, study indicates

1 hour ago | User rating: not rated yet
With the first wave of clean-up efforts behind them, residents of communities affected by this year's Midwest floods may find hope in a University of Illinois study on the economic impact of the 1993 flood that devastated ...