I’ve mentioned extremophiles several times this past year and just bumped into a really neat discussion describing some even more extreme conditions these guys live in. Say, miles beneath the Earth crust and under very intense pressure.
In addition to that, Reuters recently reported on some new research that has found more empirical evidence of a tight symbiosis between humans and bacteria. In fact, the new study found hundreds of new bacteria in our digestion system that help break down food to our benefit. While seemingly new, two years ago Wired wrote up a prescient article on this subject matter of “hybrids.”
And from the “I thought you were gone forever” file comes a roundup of species that were once feared long gone, but have been rediscovered or even recreated. I discussed these long winded birthday’s before; see also the discussion on newly discovered species in weird places.