Invasion of the Space Germs

Really, there are deadly germs from space..the catch is that we kinda put them there....

It sounds like the plot for a scary B-movie: Germs go into orbit on a spaceship and come back stronger and deadlier than ever.

But it really happened.

The germ: Salmonella, best known as a culprit in food poisoning.

The trip: Space shuttle mission STS-115, September 2006.

The reason: Scientists wanted to see how space travel affects germs, so they took some along -- carefully wrapped -- for the ride.

The result: Mice that were fed the space germs were three times more likely to get sick, and died more quickly, than mice fed identical germs that had remained behind on Earth.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/09/25/germs.in.space.ap/index.html

The bacteria changed over 150 genes to adapt to their surroundings - space. It makes sense...plus there's nothing up there to protect them from UV and other high energy waves which have a big role in mutating genes.