34,000 Year-Old Bacteria Discovered Alive

Photo: Magnified microscopic view of large algae and prokayotes (Brian Schubert)

Can this ancient discovery help us understand future discoveries of bacteria on other planets? Via The Epoch Times:

Scientists have found prokaryotes believed to have been alive when trapped in salt crystals 34,000 years ago, according to a study published this month in The Geological Society of America’s open-access journal GSA Today.

“Microbes are known to exist in subsurface habitats, such as sub-seafloor sediments and continental and oceanic crust, to depths of up to 3 km,” the paper reads.

“Prokaryotes (single-celled organisms lacking a nucleus and other membrane-bound specialized structures) in these subsurface environments live in water within sediment pores and rock fractures.”

Organisms have also been found in glaciers up to 8 million years old, according to the paper.

[Continues at The Epoch Times]