The aliens under the sea: New species of sulphate breathing bug found deep under ocean crust Microbes exist in ma Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2912381/The-aliens-sea-New-species-sulphate-breathing-bug-deep-ocean-crust.

'It was surprising to find new bugs, but when we go to warmer, relatively old and isolated fluids, we find a unique microbial community,' said Alberto Robador, of USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, who led the study. Sulfate is a compound of sulfur and oxygen that occurs naturally in seawater. It is used commercially in everything from car batteries to bath salts and can be aerosolized by the burning of fossil fuels, increasing the acidity of the atmosphere. Microbes that breathe sulfate — that is, gain energy by reacting sulfate with organic (carbon-containing) compounds — are thought to be some of the oldest types of organisms on Earth. Other species of sulfate-breathing microbes can be found in marshes and hydrothermal vents. Microbes beneath the ocean's crust, however, are incredibly tricky to sample Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2912381/The-aliens-sea-New-species-sulphate-breathing-bug-deep-ocean-crust.html#ixzz3P5dLaQTj