Hibernating bacteria can invade hospitals and survive outer space – but their high energy bill is a weakness that scientists can strike

By Canan Karakoç, Postdoctoral Scholar in Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, The Conversation · September 28, 2026

Bacteria make a survival gamble when they devote all their energy to forming spores. Evolution is quick to get rid of this function, and researchers did the accounting to understand why.

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