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Dear all,
I enjoyed watching the Bad Universe Video "Can Bacteria Survive?" at
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/bad-...-alien-attack/
Was the bacteria sample used : "E coli", as in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escherichia_coli ?
From what I've gathered, they did not survived. I hope I am not wrong.
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AFAIK E.Coli is one of the most studied bacteria of all, and strains of it are used in lots of experiments because they're so well known. I can't watch the video for some reason, but unless there's more info on what they used, E.Coli might be a good guess.Originally Posted by r00t999
Dear all,
I enjoyed watching the Bad Universe Video "Can Bacteria Survive?" at
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/bad-...-alien-attack/
Was the bacteria sample used : "E coli", as in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escherichia_coli ?
From what I've gathered, they did not survived. I hope I am not wrong.
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Order of Kilopi
Just watched it, it was explicitly specified that it was a sample of E.Coli they used.
And the clip cut at the impact without revealing the result.
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Chase after the truth like all hell and you'll free yourself, even though you never touch its coat tails. Clarence Darrow
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Established Member
Uhm. They should have consulted a biologist. The lab strains of E. coli are mutated and basically unable to survive outside lab environment, i.e. in human body (!). This is obviously a desirable feature for lab work (i.e. you don't want to work with something which can easily kill you), but makes them a poor choice for such experiments. So any competent microbiologist could probably name many strains with more chances of surviving a meteorite impact. Of course, there is a possibility that they were unable to use anything other than standard E. coli for safety reasons.
But hey, this is Discovery. People want to see stuff blowing up, not sound science
Order of Kilopi
Amongst other things, the biologist would probably suggest using endospores rather than live bacteria.
__________________________________________________
Reductionist and proud of it.
Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn. Benjamin Franklin
Chase after the truth like all hell and you'll free yourself, even though you never touch its coat tails. Clarence Darrow
A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read. Mark Twain
Member
Perhaps they won't have the money to do the experiment again with endospores, that's a pity.
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