(For you MST3K fans)
2-Billion-Year-Old Rock Found Harboring Microbes – And They’re Still Alive
IFL Science | October 09, 2024 | Maddy Chapman
Aaugh! (For you Charlie Brown fans)
The microbes were found within a sealed fracture in the ancient rock, which was excavated from the Bushveld Igneous Complex in South Africa – a rocky intrusion that formed when magma slowly cooled below the Earth’s surface. The enormous complex covers an area roughly the size of Ireland, and contains some of the richest ore deposits on Earth including around 70 percent of the world’s mined platinum. It has remained relatively unchanged since its formation, providing perfect conditions in which ancient microbial life can survive.
Such organisms, living far below the Earth’s surface, evolve incredibly slowly, and have an exceedingly slow metabolic rate, meaning they can persist in igneous rocks over geological time scales – for up to 2 billion years as the latest research has demonstrated.
Egad! (For you Sherlock Holmes fans)
Dear scientists: please watch Jurassic Park before you do anything.
Everyone else: always be sure to thoroughly wash your platinum before use.