In fact, some fungi that have made a home on the ISS even find the conditions preferable — they can feed on the extra radiation. This kind of evidence has led some scientists to suggest microscopic organisms might be ejected into space and perhaps they could move between planets, seeding life across the cosmos.
It’s a controversial concept known as “panspermia,” and it’s been championed by some unusual characters in the past as an alternative theory for how life began.
In a new study, published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, Japanese researchers sent densely-packed balls of bacteria to the International Space Station and stuck them on the outside of the lab, where they were exposed to the harsh, cold and radiation-heavy vacuum of space.
The experiment, known as Tanpopo, has been running since 2015. In Japanese, tanpopo means dandelion, and the experiment is so named because the dandelion spreads its seeds via the wind. Could the same thing happen in space, with radiation-resistant bacteria? That was the question Akihiko Yamagishi, an astrobiologist at the Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Science, set out to answer all the way back in 2007, when his experiments were first accepted as a candidate experiment on the ISS.
Yamagishi doesn’t see himself as a proponent of panspermia but wanted to see if there were ways microbes might be able to survive a trip from Earth to somewhere else in the cosmos.
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When the Japanese space agency’s Experiment Handrail Attachment Mechanism was installed on the ISS in 2015, Yamagishi and his team finally had a chance to conduct their research. By placing colonies of the radiation-resistant Deinococcus into wells and drying the suspensions in the air over and over again, they were able to create “pellets” of bacteria. In 2015, these pellets were installed on the space station in plates aboard the ExHAM.
Concurrent experiments were designed to look at the pellets after one, two and three years. The experiment officially concluded in 2018 and since then Yamagishi’s team have been analyzing the data.
The major finding shows these pellets can survive damage from UV radiation in space a lot better when the pellets were thicker. When the pellets were around half a millimeter thick, the outer layers of bacteria began to break down, but those in the center survived. Yamagishi and his team reason these thicker pellets of bacteria, exposed to interplanetary space, might survive from two to eight years — in theory, long enough to be ejected from Earth and make it to one of our closest neighbours.
“The results suggest radioresistant Deinococcus could survive during the travel from Earth to Mars and vice versa, which is several months or years in the shortest orbit,” said Yamagishi.
Bacterial astronauts
Panspermia proponents suggest some bacteria may be able to take interplanetary trips trapped inside meteorites and micrometeorites, a theory known as lithopanspermia. Yamagishi’s work took a look at a different theory — that these ball-like colonies of bacteria might protect themselves. This is known as massapanspermia.
But there are a number of lingering issues. A straight shot from Earth to Mars isn’t exactly the most likely route microbial adventurers might take.
“In theory the time could be months or years, if you hitched a ride aboard the Mars Perseverance rocket,” says Brendan Burns, an astrobiologist at the University of New South Wales not affiliated with the study. “But in terms of ‘natural’ journeys the likelihood of an object ejected from Earth and hitting Mars in a short space of time is slim.”
While Yamagishi’s research does demonstrate the ability for bacteria to survive space for extended periods of time, Burns notes meteorites can have a flight time of more than 10 million years before they jump planets.
And there’s a pretty big problem to overcome if you’re microscopic and trying to relocate from planet to planet. First, you have to be ejected from your home planet without dying, survive the long (really long) journey across space and then make it through an atmospheric re-entry. Even NASA robots are terrified of entering the atmosphere of Mars.
Yamagishi concurs. “Very little is known about entry and ejection,” he says.
But let’s say Deinococcus got through all of that, what happens when the bacteria get to their new home? The situation is likely dire for an Earth transplant, used to a world of running water and protected by a thick atmosphere.
“Even if a given lifeform could survive interplanetary travel, the conditions of where it ends up must be just right for it to take off again,” says Burns. He notes the microbes would need to look for nutrients and would need to be hardy enough to withstand any differences in the atmosphere. So while the panspermia hypothesis remains possible, Burns says, “the jury is still very much out.”
Yamagishi’s team and the Tanpopo mission will continue exposure experiments “with different species in different conditions” and hope to see how general the process of massapanspermia may be.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
