{"id":2420,"date":"2026-09-28T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/?p=2420"},"modified":"2026-09-28T19:50:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T19:50:38","slug":"the-new-york-times-in-an-80-motel-room-a-discovery-to-shed-light-on-the-origins-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/?p=2420","title":{"rendered":"The New York Times: In an $80 Motel Room, a Discovery to Shed Light on the Origins of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;6abaea58080c4&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"6abaea58080c4\" class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-large is-resized wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--pointerdown=\"actions.preloadImage\" data-wp-on--pointerenter=\"actions.preloadImageWithDelay\" data-wp-on--pointerleave=\"actions.cancelPreload\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-09-28-Paulinella-IG-819x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2421\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.7998138370921964;width:143px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-09-28-Paulinella-IG-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-09-28-Paulinella-IG-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-09-28-Paulinella-IG-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-09-28-Paulinella-IG-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-09-28-Paulinella-IG-1638x2048.jpg 1638w, https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-09-28-Paulinella-IG-500x625.jpg 500w, https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-09-28-Paulinella-IG-scaled.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 819px) 100vw, 819px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-bind--aria-label=\"state.thisImage.triggerButtonAriaLabel\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.thisImage.buttonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.thisImage.buttonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The best science takes place outside of the box. Remarkable discoveries often happen in the unlikeliest of places \u2014 even in a North Carolina motel room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Check out this great piece in <strong>The New York Times<\/strong> chronicling a team of scientists studying Paulinella, a photosynthetic single-celled organism. The story features <strong>Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences <\/strong>Senior Research Scientist <strong>John Burns<\/strong>, his commitment to scrappy, bold science, and his uncanny ability to craft steampunk instrumentation using toothbrushes and colored pencils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-3e41869c wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-text-align-center wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/09\/26\/science\/motel-science-discovery.html?smid=nytcore-android-share\">Check Out the Article<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\ud83d\udcf8: The Paulinella cell, imaged on an electron microscope at Bigelow Laboratory (Credit: <em>Julia Van Etten and John Burns<\/em>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The best science takes place outside of the box. Remarkable discoveries often happen in the unlikeliest of places \u2014 even in a North Carolina motel room. Check out this great piece in The New York Times chronicling a team of scientists studying Paulinella, a photosynthetic single-celled organism. The story features Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2421,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","css_class_manager_body_classes":"","css_class_manager_use_in_post_loop":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[67,52,74],"class_list":["post-2420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-coverage","tag-discovery","tag-john-burns","tag-microbiology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2420"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2422,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2420\/revisions\/2422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}