Heavy-Duty Hardware Hauls Bacteria From the Bottom of the Sea

Yesterday we wrote about metagenomics, the emerging scientific study of the largely unanalyzed microbial ecosystems essential to many of our planet's biological processes.

In case the actual processes seem a bit dry or abstract -- if the words "genome library" just don't make your hacker heart sing -- here's a fun, geeked-out account of the machinery used in deep-sea sampling:

The ESP is designed to slurp up a liter or two of ocean water, filter it to capture any microorganisms that may be present (a fair amount of gunk comes along for the ride), break open the microbial cells, tag the DNA of pre-selected organisms with a luminescent chemical, and capture a digital image of the resulting glow. It does all this within the confines of the core unit, a metal cylinder that looks like a downsized oil drum – roughly 16 inches in diameter and 3 feet tall. Its innards are a labyrinth of plastic tubing, valves, a couple of syringes to push the water around from place to place, IV bags filled with various types of aqueous chemistry, an Intel ARM processor, 32 megabytes of RAM, a handful of controller boards and a digital imaging device raided from a camera designed for use by amateur astronomy buffs. The ESP’s casing, which is machined from a solid block of Nibral, a corrosion-resistant bronze alloy, has 1.5-inch-thick walls and weighs about 700 pounds.

I wonder what it would find in my bathtub?

Taking the Ocean’s Pulse [Astrobiology Magazine]

Image: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute