Latest Archaea Stories

Using the genetic equivalent of an ancient thermometer, a team of scientists has determined that the Earth endured a massive cooling period between 500 million and 3.5 billion years ago.Reporting today (Feb. 7) in the journal Nature, researchers from the University of Florida, the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution and the biotechnology company DNA2.0 describe how they reconstructed proteins from ancient bacteria to measure the Earth's temperature over the ages. "By studying proteins...

Scientists have suspected that the three known domains of life -- eukaryotes, bacteria, and archaea -- branched off and went their separate ways around three billion years ago. But pinning down the time of that split has been an elusive task. Now, a team of scientists present direct evidence that the three domains of life coexisted at least as long as 2.7 billion years ago. The discovery came from chemical examination of shale samples, loaded with oily lipid remains of archaea found in a deep...

Scientists have identified tiny nanoorganisms, which are virtually impossible to see beneath the microscope, in a Californian mine. The discovery may have important implications in the search for life on other planets.For 11 years, Jill Banfield at the University of California, Berkeley, has collected and studied the microbes that slime the floors of mines and convert iron to acid, a common source of stream pollution around the world.Imagine her surprise, then, when research scientist Brett...

For 11 years, Jill Banfield at the University of California, Berkeley, has collected and studied the microbes that slime the floors of mines and convert iron to acid, a common source of stream pollution around the world.Imagine her surprise, then, when research scientist Brett Baker discovered three new microbes living amidst the bacteria she thought she knew well. All three were so small - the size of large viruses - as to be virtually invisible under a microscope, and belonged to a totally...

In the world of microbes, as in politics, some groups just can't seem to shake the label "extremist." So it is with archaea (ar-KEY-uh), a collection of bacteria-like microorganisms whose unique genetics and chemical structure separate them from all other living things. For years, biologists have pigeonholed archaea as extremophiles, creatures that live in extreme conditions. Indeed, many species of archaea thrive in environments that would kill other organisms, from Yellowstone hot...

By Robert S. Boyd WASHINGTON - Like explorers of old, scientists are venturing into the immense but little-known realm of the microscopic organisms that dominate our planet. "It's an entire world that most of us have no idea about," said Alan Leshner, the chief executive of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Countless trillions of microbes - mostly bacteria and a recently discovered kingdom of one-celled creatures known as Archaea - inhabit every cranny of the...

A class of especially hardy microbes that live in some of the harshest Earthly environments could flourish on cold Mars and other chilly planets, according to a research team of astronomers and microbiologists. In a two-year laboratory study, the researchers discovered that some cold-adapted microorganisms not only survived but reproduced at 30 degrees Fahrenheit, just below the freezing point of water. The microbes also developed a defense mechanism that protected them from cold...

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science CorrespondentWASHINGTON -- We may not be entirely human, gene experts said on Thursday after studying the DNA of hundreds of different kinds of bacteria in the human gut.Bacteria are so important to key functions such as digestion and the immune system that we may be truly symbiotic organisms -- relying on one another for life itself, the scientists write in Friday's issue of the journal Science.Their findings suggest that studying bacteria native to our...

NASA -- Deeply buried ocean sediments may house populations of tiny organisms that have extremely low maintenance energy needs and population turnover rates of anywhere from 200 to 2,000 years, according to an international team of researchers. "The microbial ecosystem in deeply buried marine sediments may comprise a tenth of Earth's living biomass, but little is known about the organisms, their physiologies, and their influence on surface environments," says Jennifer F. Biddle,...

One day, humans will step foot on Mars. And they'll be hungry. Growing food on a frozen desert planet with a suffocatingly thin atmosphere, however, will be a challenge. Scientists are now bioengineering plants that can grow on mars.NASA -- Plants and animals are fragile life forms. Dry them out, freeze them, expose them to high doses of radiation - they don't do so well. But not all organisms are so picky. Many archaeans, for example, are distinguished by their ability to adapt to a...