Monday 11 November 2013

andromeda strain

A research laboratory in Braunschweig, working with ESA, the European Space Agency, has been culturing samples of extremely hardy bacteria that have been isolated in samples collected on parts of space-probes after being sterilised for assembly and deployment.

The biological significance in these studies is of course terrifying and exciting at the same time: like the super-bugs that have survived and thrived in hospital environments, scientists expected no living organism to be able to withstand these conditions, yet there they are and such bacteria have probably already been inadvertently sent out as terrestrial emissaries into space.