Page 45 - The Microworld Miracle

vapor and thus forms clouds. Finally, these clouds keep the Earth
cool by reflecting solar radiation. In a statement to New Scientist
22
magazine, Birgit Sattler of Innsbruck University said that it was
previously thought that bacteria could not live at such elevations,
and so these findings came as a complete surprise. The freezing
cold, high levels of ultraviolet rays and lack of nourishment had led
scientists to believe that life would not be possible up there. Yet it

was thus demonstrated that bacteria can live in the clouds, as they
do everywhere else.
Differently-shaped bacteria in 1,500 different sizes were identi-
fied in each specimen of cloud water taken from a meteorological
station near Salzburg. According to scientists, high levels of bacte-
riological activity in clouds can affect the climate, depending on the
their level of production or consumption of alcohol, organic acid

and other substances. Scientists are continuing to investigate how
bacteria live in the clouds, what they feed on and what compounds
they produce. 23
How can a microorganism suddenly adapt to the highest lev-
els in the atmosphere, where there are such very different condi-
tions? How does it know that it needs to be protected there, and HARUN YAHYA

(ADNAN OKTAR)
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