WEBVTT - How Does a 500-Year Experiment Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogelbaum here. Some types of bacteria are known for

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<v Speaker 1>their ability to survive extreme conditions, from high temperatures to

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<v Speaker 1>chemical attacks to dehydration, but for how long are they

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<v Speaker 1>really viable? In A team of scientists dried a collection

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<v Speaker 1>of bacteria, sealed those specimens away in small glass vials,

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<v Speaker 1>and in five hundred years, some researcher will have the

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<v Speaker 1>honor of bringing the long lived study to a close.

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<v Speaker 1>The five century long experiment was conceived by researchers at

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<v Speaker 1>Scotland's University of Edinburgh, who teamed up with German and

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<v Speaker 1>American scientists in hopes of advancing human kinds understanding of

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<v Speaker 1>bacteria longevity. A major catch, none of them, or their

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<v Speaker 1>children or great great grandchildren are likely to be around

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<v Speaker 1>to see the results. In an email interview, Charles Cockle,

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<v Speaker 1>one of these scientists involved with the project, said the

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<v Speaker 1>motivation for the experiment was straightforward quote. Most science experiments

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<v Speaker 1>were on grant or human lifespans, but nature works over

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<v Speaker 1>long time periods. We wanted to create an experiment that

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<v Speaker 1>was more aligned to the length of time of interest

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<v Speaker 1>for studying microbes. For the experiment, team members filled eight

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<v Speaker 1>hundred vials with one of two types of bacteria, Crococca

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<v Speaker 1>diiopsis or Baccillus subtalis. The former is a true survivor,

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<v Speaker 1>a very primitive bacterium often found in extremely inhospitable environments

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<v Speaker 1>from hot springs to deserts. The latter is one of

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<v Speaker 1>the most studied bacterium in all of science, one that

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<v Speaker 1>can revert to a dormant state, surrounding itself with a

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<v Speaker 1>spore and basically going into hibernation when it's subjected to

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<v Speaker 1>environmental changes. The glass files the scientists filled were completely

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<v Speaker 1>sealed off from air, and half of them were shrouded

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<v Speaker 1>and lead to thwart the possible effects of radiation or

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<v Speaker 1>other potential interferences that could cause DNA damage. For the

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<v Speaker 1>first quarter century, scientists will check on the bacteria every

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<v Speaker 1>other year to see if they're still viable. Then the

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<v Speaker 1>check up schedule will shift to once every twenty five

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<v Speaker 1>years until the five hundred year test is over. The

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<v Speaker 1>actual tests are easy, simply requiring a basic rehydration process

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<v Speaker 1>and counting the bacteria colonies. But what's the best way

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<v Speaker 1>to describe the experiment to people four hundred years into

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<v Speaker 1>the future. Instructions were printed on paper and also stored

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<v Speaker 1>to a flash drive, with the explicit request that researchers

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<v Speaker 1>update the verbiage and technologies when they perform their twenty

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<v Speaker 1>five year checks. The first analyzes were conducted in with

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<v Speaker 1>results published in December the GIST. After two years of isolation,

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<v Speaker 1>bacteria spores demonstrated hardly any decrease in viability. Some of

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<v Speaker 1>the surviving spores were then purposefully exposed too tougher conditions

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<v Speaker 1>like high salt levels or a spacelike vacuum. These specimens

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<v Speaker 1>then showed an increased loss of viability. But what's the

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<v Speaker 1>best case scenario of such a long term project, the

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<v Speaker 1>Cockle said, there isn't an ideal outcome as such. We

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<v Speaker 1>want to learn how quickly microbes die and what mathematical

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<v Speaker 1>function describes their death over century time scales. Some by

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<v Speaker 1>tiria are so durable that they can remain viable for

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<v Speaker 1>tens of millions of years, provided they're preserved in one

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<v Speaker 1>form or another. For example, scientists have revived bacteria immersed

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<v Speaker 1>in twenty five million year old tree sap and also

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<v Speaker 1>from the carcasses of creatures like beetles that were trapped

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<v Speaker 1>in amber a hundred and thirty five million years ago.

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<v Speaker 1>Other researchers found that bacteria in New Mexico salt deposits

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<v Speaker 1>were still viable after two hundred and fifty million years.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode was written by Nathan Chandler and produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tyler Clay for iHeart Media and How Stuff Works. For

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<v Speaker 1>more on this and lots of other topics with the

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<v Speaker 1>future in mind, visit our home planet, how stuff Works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com.