On Sun, 21 Jan 1996 16:39:21 -0800 you wrote:
AC>The following, ripped off from
>http://baretta.calpoly.edu/cano/bact-article.html
>suggests a bacterium could survive for 135 million years without damage.
>What happened to the laws of chemistry and physics?
>
>
>SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- California Polytechnic State University
>microbiology professor Raul Cano has discovered that bacteria millions of
>years old can be brought back to life.
[...]
AC>All of the ancient bacteria revived by Cano were revived from
bacterial
>spores trapped in amber --fossilized tree sap.
Surely there is a simple test? Put the same bacteria (and a control
group of different bacteria) back into amber, wait a week, a month, a
year, and see if they survive. If they all die, then its false.
What if the bacteria were living in the amber in a steady state?
Perhaps amber is not entirely impervious? Amber was originally
organic (tree resin), so they may even feed on it? They could test
this by enclosing the bacteria in something alsolutely inert, like
glass.
It does seem hard to believe that complex biological molecules could
retain their organisation for 135 MY. One must suspect contamination.
Regards.
Stephen
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