Microbes Were Dormant for Over 100 Million Years, But They Were Able to Spring Back to Life

At the bottom of the ocean in the South Pacific Gyre, there’s a sediment layer that is among the most nutrient-starved environments on Earth. Because of conditions in that area, there’s almost no “marine snow”--the shower of organic debris common in the ocean--that falls to the ocean floor. Without all that organic debris falling to …