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[Bruce Klein]

West Chester University biologist Russell Vreeland and two colleagues report reviving and growing bacteria from 250-million-year-old salt crystals. The work shatters previous records for waking bacterial Rip Van Winkles.

In the process, some researchers say, it raises deep questions about whether dormant bacteria are "essentially immortal" and bolsters notions of finding evidence for primitive life on other planets or in meteorites that land on Earth. Christian Science Monitor --Complete Article

[Bruce Klein]

Some cells have no Hayflick limit. Barring trauma from outside, they are immortal. They can be killed, but they do not age.  The "lowly" bacteria are immortal. They can be killed -- by starvation, radiation, lack of water, or being eaten by another organism. But they do not age. Bacteria keep on dividing forever, until some outside agency kills them.

Ben Bova:
http://www.sff.net/p...enbova/imm.html