Contact: Chad Boutin
cboutin@princeton.edu
609-258-5729
Princeton University

Strange New Bacteria

Caption: The rod-shaped object near the bottom of the image is a bacterium Tullis Onstott's team found in water samples obtained nearly two miles underground in a South African gold mine. This type of bacterium, approximately four micrometers in length, has survived for millions of years on chemical food sources that derive from the radioactive decay of minerals in the surrounding rock, making it one of the few creatures known that does not depend on sunlight for nourishment.

Credit: Tullis Onstott/Princeton University

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