‘Zombie’ Microbes Redefine Life’s Energy Limits

[Dan_Eastwood]

A Biosphere of Stasis

The implication of the study’s estimates is that this underground biome has almost no cell division: Some individual cells down there might be 100 million years old. It also means that in all that time, those cells might not have evolved or changed much at all. It’s a biosphere characterized by stasis. “Really, most of the cells are barely hanging on,” Amend said. “Our concept of how cells evolve goes out the window for this incredibly large biosphere.”

‘Zombie’ Microbes Redefine Life’s Energy Limits | Quanta Magazine