Microorganisms on EARTH Magazine

Marine microorganisms drive summer clouds over Southern Ocean

Fri, 23 Oct 2015 11:43:18 -0400

Organic material lofted into the atmosphere with sea spray is a major source of cloud condensation nuclei over the Southern Ocean, particularly in the summer months when phytoplankton bloom prolifically. Credit: Daniel McCoy.

The Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica is home to some of the most pristine air anywhere on Earth. And yet it’s also one of the cloudiest places on the planet, a seeming contradiction because water droplets require particulate matter in the air to condense into clouds. Now, a study looking at cloud droplet concentrations over the Southern Ocean is giving scientists a clearer understanding of the role played by marine microorganisms in cloud formation and climate.

Oil-encased water droplets are mini-ecosystems for microbes

Tue, 09 Dec 2014 10:29:16 -0500

Oil rising from underground solidifies into asphalt over much of Pitch Lake on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. In spots, it also reaches the surface as a liquid. Credit: Rainer Meckenstock.

Dark, sludgy oil may not seem like an environment suited to life. But microbes, known to make meals of such organic stews by breaking down large hydrocarbons to extract food and energy, have been found before in petroleum reservoirs. Now, in a new study, researchers report finding diverse communities of microorganisms living inside tiny water droplets in Pitch Lake, the world’s largest natural asphalt seep located on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. The discovery may have implications for industry, scientists say, as well as for our understanding of extreme life.

Bacteria back from the brink

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Layered salt crystals, colored pink and green from trapped microorganisms. From a layered salt pan in Saline Valley, Calif. Michael Timofeeff

A microbial bloom of living, green _Dunaliella _algae found within a fluid inclusion in a salt crystal. Michael Timofeeff

Thousand- and million-year-old microbes found living in salt crystals: Could they also exist on other planets?

Great Lakes geologic sunken treasure

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

In the sinkholes of Lake Huron, researchers are finding microbial life more reminiscent of the life found in ocean hydrothermal vents than that in freshwater lakes. NOAA, courtesy of Thunder Bay Sinkholes 2008

Researchers sent the Phantom S2 ROV into one of the sinkholes. NOAA, courtesy of Thunder Bay Sinkholes 2008

The Great Lakes hold the secrets of hundreds of ill-fated voyages in their notoriously treacherous waters. Shipwreck enthusiasts find a bounty of nautical relics preserved in their chilly depths. Only within the last decade, however, have explorers and scientists begun to reveal the secrets of a much different — and ancient — sunken treasure in Lake Huron.