New life form discovered!

[far-trader]

Well, OK, it might not be new, heck it might not even be life (you taste it, I ain't gonna taste it, oh you mean test it).

Only marginally related to Traveller, in that now I'm wondering what might be found growing in unexpected places, like the fuel tanks of a starship. Also I'm kinda wondering if there is a scientific body that would be interested in or know something about this. Guess I could try the not so local University Biology department next time I'm near there.

Anyway, my "discovery" occured yesterday when during a break in the deluge I got to go clean the muck of roof washdown of the past several droughts out of the eavestrough, and patch a couple holes that weren't noticed before for lack of water running in them.

To patch the holes I grabbed the handy tin of roof repair (Black Knight brand), a tar like substance for wet or dry patching and sealing composed of asphalt, oils and mineral fibres (asbestos free). The tin, like a small paint can, has been sealed and in the cold basement for over two years. So given the circumstances and substances I was quite suprised upon opening it to find a couple colonies of "growth" inside.

I scooped my patch needs without disturbing them. They are kinda fuzzy short white things. Like a mold or something. Is anybody else amazed that something could live in a cold dark tightly sealed container of this tar? I mean sure I'm used to the idea of life being stubborn enough to thrive anywhere, from the depths of the oceans to the ice fields of the south pole, but to actually encounter it in my own house under such bizarre circumstances kinda threw me.

Anybody else have similar "discoveries" to share. Just the more bizarre ones please, moldy bread won't cut it, though I did have a nice rainbow colored piece in the fridge once. It had red, and yellow and green colonies all living together in harmony, or were they fighting for dominance

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Some of the things I found growing in coffee cups back when I was at uni were close to evolving opposable thumbs...

 

[Wayne]

coffee mugs are some of the most 'lively' places in the world

 

[trader jim]

Betcha Wolfman has got some strange stuff growing in all that mangy fur hes got!!!!

Pee-UUUUU it also smells!!!!

and just look at those toe-nails!!!!! somthing Green is growing on and between them!!!!

 

[Rotters2]

That stuff between Wolfman's toes is slow-running Aslan, TJ.

Errr... by the way, mate... this isn't Random Static.... That's twice you've been caought out of your comfort zone....

Better be careful, TJ, or people will start taking you for a SERIOUS CotI member

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Did someone just say 'TJ' and 'serious' in the same sentence...?

 

[trader jim]

Friend - Far-Trader, what scares me is the new Bacteria found that EAT and LIVE on PLACTIC!!
Just think of all the Wireing in the WORLD!!!

AND/OR the discovery of TERMITES that EAT ALUMINUM!!!

These items wer reported in Science Journals SEVERAL years ago and I cant remeber which ones.

So not much would suprise me at this time
Wonder what that container of yours contained???

 

[mike wightman]

Ever heard of the coffee-juice amoeba?

A single celled parasite that has evolved to metabolise said brown liquid into...

... something else

 

[trader jim]

Thats why I put a WARNING!! on every bottle and can!!!!


please, please DO NOT read this WARNING!!!

JUST BY IT AND DRINK IT!!!!

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by trader jim:
Friend - Far-Trader, what scares me is the new Bacteria found that EAT and LIVE on PLACTIC!!
Just think of all the Wireing in the WORLD!!!

AND/OR the discovery of TERMITES that EAT ALUMINUM!!!

These items wer reported in Science Journals SEVERAL years ago and I cant remeber which ones.

So not much would suprise me at this time
Wonder what that container of yours contained???

That's right, I recall the plastic eating ones now you mention it, and some talk of using them to clean up oil spills or were those a different beastie? Not sure what ever came of that idea.

Never heard of the aluminum eating termites though, that is scary.

 

[Spud]

Whilst I was in the service of my country, I served overseas. I also played wargames, which was at best, not socially acceptable. While I was on leave, our domicile developed a leak, and none of my ersatz comrades bothered to move my stack of AH games somewhere dry. After most of two weeks, the local fungi (and a real fungi he was...)had taken over. What I thought cool was that different colored ink produced/supported different color fungi? There, in the damp dark, had grown some of the loveliest colors I've ever seen!

 

[Shadowdancer]

When I was living in a dorm at college, I had two suite mates who were from the same small, piss-ant, isolated, Tex-Mex border town. They both dipped snuff, and would spit into empty soft drink cans which they had cut the tops off of. They would leave these cans sitting around in their dorm room.

By the end of each semester, they had some interesting-looking colonies growing inside those cans.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Ew.

 

[Spud]

In the late 70's, I used to play wargames with a young feller who dipped snuff and spat into soda bottles. This was both good and bad. Bad because you could never forget that he enjoyed one of the vilest habits known to man; good because you could see that this was NOT your soda bottle!
He had the nerve to bitch at me about smoking! (I've been clean 36 years, I'll bet he still dips)

 

[FlightCommanderSolitude]

I used to share an apartment with some friends. We once had some friends over a for a Thanksgiving potluck; somebody brought a huge tub of mashed potatoes. There was far more mashed potato than willing stomachs, and the remainder "somehow" managed to get left in the aluminum pot ... which was placed in a cupboard under a counter ... for several months.

Fast forward almost a year, and I'm doing a "sweep" of the kitchen, cleaning everything I can find. I retrieved the tub from under the counter and opened it ... to discover a plush layer of downy inch-high mildew atop a blue and green layer of crust. What was left of the potatoes themselves had hardened into something, well, woody.

It took me a while to clean that pot out, but when I did, I noticed something very interesting. Water was leaking from the bottom of the pot while I was washing it ... the mold had actually eaten through the aluminum! There were coin-sized holes in the bottom of the pot!