{"id":711824,"date":"2026-06-03T08:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T08:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/711824\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T08:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T08:01:11","slug":"theres-something-living-inside-fog-scientists-find","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/711824\/","title":{"rendered":"There’s Something Living Inside Fog, Scientists Find"},"content":{"rendered":"

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There\u2019s something living in the fog. Repeat: there\u2019s something living in the fog.<\/p>\n

It may sound like a twisted update to the classic John Carpenter film \u2014 or a log line for the new Apple TV horror series \u201cWidow\u2019s Bay\u201d \u2014 but these low-hanging clouds are indeed rife with living bacteria, according to new research.<\/p>\n

The findings, published in a study<\/a> in the journal Environmental Microbiology, showed that fog is teeming with so much life that the researchers liken it to a vast aquatic ecosystem unto itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found that millions of bacteria inhabit\u2026 fog droplets,\u201d coauthor Ferran Garcia-Pichel at Arizona State University, told USA Today<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you take all of the droplets together, the concentration of bacteria is the same as in the ocean,\u201d he added in a statement<\/a> about the work.<\/p>\n

The presence of bacteria in airborne water droplets isn\u2019t a new revelation in itself. But the work helps elucidate what it is that bacteria do while suspended in fog and other clouds \u2014 something that wasn\u2019t clear before \u2014 and the impact this has on the broader environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s very limited knowledge about what kinds of bacteria are present in fogs, which are like clouds at the ground level,\u201d lead author Thi Thuong Cao, a researcher at ASU, said in the statement.<\/p>\n

To peer into this gloomy microscopic realm, the researchers meticulously collected air samples before, during, and after fog events. Since wind can blow fog banks away and confound attempts to get consistent samples, the researchers focused on a specific type called radiation fog that forms on calmer days when the ground cools and chills the air above it, allowing water droplets to condense close to the surface.<\/p>\n

After assiduously collecting samples, the researchers found that only one percent of fog droplets contained bacteria. But a thimbleful of these droplets in all packs around ten million bacteria, which is nothing to scoff at.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some thrived more than others. The population of one bacteria called Methylobacteria, known for devouring simple carbon compounds including pollutants like formaldehyde, increased after fog events. A closer look showed that the bacteria were actively growing and multiplying.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe observed them under the microscope to see that yes, the bacteria are getting bigger and they\u2019re dividing, so there is growth,\u201d Cao said. \u201cWe also found that they\u2019re using the formaldehyde as food to support their growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garcia-Pichel said this marked a \u201cmindset change\u201d in how we think about fog. \u201cIf they are growing,\u201d he said of the bacteria, \u201cthen the droplets are a habitat.\u201d<\/p>\n

From this habitat, bacteria could be influencing air quality, thanklessly sucking up pollutants. It\u2019s a possibility that might give pause to calls to start collecting fog for drinking water, the researchers say.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we harvest fog, we are getting rid of our little friends in the air,\u201d Garcia-Pichel said in the statement. \u201cWe don\u2019t know if that\u2019s going to make a big impact or not, but we should be considering that.\u201d<\/p>\n

More on biology: Scientists Intrigued by Chunk of Flesh That Refuses to Die After Several Years<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up to see the future, today Can\u2019t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech There\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711825,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,66],"class_list":["post-711824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}