by Elio — Don't you just love a good con­tro­versy? Take, for in­stance, the dis­cus­sions on long term sur­vival of bac­te­ria. De­pend­ing on your point of view, bac­te­ria ex­ist in salt for­ma­tions go­ing back 250 mil­lion years, in 50 mil­lion year old am­ber, or in 500,00 year old per­ma­nently frozen ice or per­mafrost. Some re­searchers re­port the iso­la­tion of vi­able bac­te­ria, oth­ers are con­tent...