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Swabs from China's Tiangong space station reveal traces of a bacterium unseen on Earth, with characteristics that may help it function under stressful environmental conditions hundreds of kilometers above the planet's surface.
TL;DR: Scientists swabbed China’s Tiangong space station and found a brand-new bacterium, officially dubbed Niallia tiangongensis. This hardy microbe is a close cousin of the soil-dwelling N. circulans and packs its essential chemistry into spores to survive stress. Surprisingly, it can munch on gelatin to build protective biofilms but has lost the ability to use some nutrients its relatives love.
What’s especially wild is that Tiangong’s microbiome looks very different from the ISS’s, raising questions about whether these bugs evolved up there or hitched a ride in spore form. While it’s unclear if N. tiangongensis poses a health risk to astronauts, its knack for DNA repair and toxin resistance—traits shared by other space-stubborn microbes—means we really need to know how these tiny stowaways might tag along on future lunar or Martian missions.