Most people would choose the Methuselah Tree (5,000y) or the King Clone creosote plant in California (11,000y) or the Tasmanian King's Holly (40,000y). But what about those bacteria endopores that were found in New Mexico’s Carlsbad Caverns in a 250million y old salt formation that were revived in 2000? They didn't exactly die and they survived for that long, I mean the revived ones are probably dead now but the spores that aren't revived could still be considered alive couldn't they? It also makes me think that life is impossible to destroy.
Yes, it takes very little t ojumpstart life. Simple organisms like bacteria live in places you wouldn't imagine. I guess life is shameless bastard that won't go away.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
It is actually relatively easy to destroy all live in a local area. It is however not so easy to destroy all life.
there is a type of bacteria which has evolved to live on the crusty deposites on the caps of specific chemichal bottles. Guess which chemical? A disinfectant Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! bacteria are tough little buggers. Thermophile bacteria can thrive in heat which would burn us alive. Others can deal with tempuratures which can freeze us solid. Water ways w/ salt levels which would quick us quickly are home to a fasinating array of bacteria, much of whom are really colorful!! I'd say that the longest living thing is the Tasmanian King's Holly, the oldest thing are these bacteria. They weren't really livgin for a good 250 mill years. they were just not doing anything.
nobody is denying that some bacteria can live under adverse circumstances, but that doesn't mean it would be impossible to kill them easily. Blowtorch an area for several minutes and see what is left. Or do some autoclaving. Put your thermophyle in -20C and see how well it thrives Btw...people go to sauna's at over 100C and also don't die or drop dead. Therefore lets gain some realistic perspective again. Some organims are very well adapted to extreme conditions, but no organism is adapted to all conditions. Hence they can be killed easily by going outside the viable parameters. You just have to know what are the parameters. The essence of life is that every organism has its niche and not that there are some superorganisms out there that cannot be killed. It is all about the perspective we are trying to create here.
Even if the earth was shrouded by radiation that destroyed all forms of life and took a billion years to recover to a livable state again it seems plausable to me that bacteria spores underneath kilometres of rock could "start" living again. Purely hypothetical though. Life does have its limits though. And yeah, I have to admit, the spores weren't exactly alive as such, just kind of paused.
Infact asexual bacteria is immortal if you think about it. Having been here for 3.5 billion years.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! ...it makes sense on some levels. One spilts..makes a copy of itself...that copy makes a copy of it self so even if the first one dies the exact one survives on....technically making them immortal, no??Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Personally I take length of life to be how long an individual organism lives. Under that definition the bacteria would not be immortal even if they could make perfect replicars of themselves.
