News Microbes

Surprising metals found in microbes

For first time, organism shown to need rare earth element to survive

HOT DIGS  Methylacidiphilum fumariolicum, the first life form found to rely on a rare earth element for survival, lives in steaming volcanic mud pits like this one outside Naples, Italy.

Paola Marinani, Radboud University Nijmegen

By Gabriel Popkin

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