Excerpt from the November 14, 1970 issue of Science News
Clouds in the sky may contain living microbial ecosystems…. [Research] determined that metabolic activity, in the form of CO2 uptake into organic material, occurred in [airborne] dust over a 24-hour period, whereas it did not occur in sterilized control dust.Research building over the last decade or so has supported the claim that some bacteria may indeed be metabolically active within their hazy abodes. One species of Bacillus, for example, eats sugar floating in the atmosphere to build a coating — perhaps to shield itself from ultraviolet radiation and low temperatures (SN: 2/7/15, p. 5).
