Australian–New Zealand IODP Consortium Ocean Planet Workshop; Canberra, Australia, 14–16 April 2019
Geomicrobiology
Marine Virus Survey Reveals Biodiversity Hot Spots
Ocean samples collected from around the world produced a twelvefold increase in the number of marine viruses known. A portion of the Arctic Ocean has “surprisingly high diversity.”
Atacama Desert’s Unprecedented Rains Are Lethal to Microbes
Rainfall in the driest parts of Chile’s Atacama Desert in 2017 resulted in hypersaline lagoons that killed the majority of microbes adapted to millions of years of arid conditions.
Life and Death in the Deepest Depths of the Seafloor
Lacking light and energy, under-seafloor microbes rely on ancient organic materials to survive.
Soil Bacteria Could Help Absorb Natural Gas Leaks
For the first time, new research examines the response of terrestrial soil microbes to a massive natural gas blowout and offers hope for new remediation strategies.
Rocks in Chile Help Scientists Hunt for Life on Mars
Investigating oxalate minerals in the Atacama Desert provides a terrestrial analogue to test techniques that could be used to study the carbon cycle in the cold deserts of Mars.
