UMR research could pave way for discovery of li...( nverted microscope and micromanipulator...)

"It's a little bit like "Jurassic Park,'" says Mormile, who notes that a 250- million-year-old bacterium finding pre-dates Jurassic dinosaurs by 20 million years or so. "In the book and the movie, scientists find a prehistoric mosquito trapped in amber. We're doing something similar with the bacteria that is trapped in salt crystals. And we hope to do this with Mars samples as well."

Although Mormile concedes it's possible that a modern bacterium was somehow introduced to the 250-million-year-old salt crystal discussed in the Nature study, thereby contaminating it, she remains optimistic that researchers will continue to find other bacteria from a similar time period. Such confirmation is necessary to prove that bacteria can live for hundreds of millions of years on Earth, a conclusion that would make life on Mars all the more plausible.

Scientists already know that bacteria can live without light or oxygen. They can thrive in boiling water or below the Arctic ice. Existing bacteria have been found in radioactive waste and, interestingly enough, in the belly of a bee trapped in amber for more than 25 million years.

If bacteria can survive under these conditions for so long, Mormile says, there is no reason to believe they can't exist in Mars' harsh environments, especially under its surface.

"I think there's a pretty good chance we'll find life on Mars," Mormile says. "Even though bacteria are not as fascinating to most people as aliens with big eyes, I think we could be in for some astounding discoveries."

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Contact: Lance Feyh
lfeyh@umr.edu
573-341-4966
University of Missouri-Rolla
30-Oct-2000