Primordial bug debunks debate?

For decades, the origin of life has been a subject of war for two camps of scientific thought-a war that an ancient undersea microbe now puts to rest. By metabolizing carbon monoxide into methane and vinegar, this particular specie (formally known as M. acetivorans) derives energy from a previously unknown biochemical process.

It was this mechanism that inspired two laboratories in Penn State to suggest that life evolved to make energy first and foremost, and then evolved to fix carbon. As a result, the two warring theories of heterotrophic and chemoautotrophic origins of life may be debunked entirely and further studies into these ‘methane-belching bugs’ looms large.

-Sandy Huen
Source: Penn State news service

Coffee, tea, a camel and me

Coming soon to drugstores near you-a caffeine thermometer for your steaming cup of joe. Researchers in St. Louis are developing a portable and convenient “dipstick” to accurately measure the amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee, tea, even soda.

Curiously, the caffeine test is based on the ability of llamas and camels to produce antibodies that withstand the high temperatures of a hot brewed beverage-around 194 degrees Fahrenheit. By injecting the animals with a caffeine-linked protein, the researchers were able to elicit an immune response and isolate the antibody responsible.

The caffeine-specific antibody reacts little with other caffeine-like compounds in teas and hence measures caffeine content with high accuracy. And now that the antibody sequence has been isolated, producing portable caffeine thermometers on par with the more sophisticated equipment is only a stone’s throw away.

-S.H.
Source: Washington University School of Medicine news service.

We prescribe daily light exercise

What can travel faster than the speed of light? According to researchers at the University of Rochester, the answer is light in reverse. Theory had long predicted that light could be sent backwards, but observing the phenomenon itself was another matter entirely. The same team had recently demonstrated light slower than an airplane, then light faster than light itself. Now, with the mathematical oddity of negative speed proven faster than light, what will the next exercise in light be?

-S.H.
Source: Science