Archaea in the news - a growing trend

Archaea, the so-called "third" branch in the tree of life, don't get in the news much but good when they do and for some reason, they are getting in the news more and more these days.  See below for some links to news stories.

• Coaxing Fuel From Extreme Bugs - Forbes.com
• Single origin of life story
• All Species Evolved From Single Cell, Study Finds
• Study proves Darwin's theory of universal common ancestry
• The Proof Is in the Proteins: Test Supports Universal Common Ancestor for All Life
• Asphalt Lake microbes
• Is This What Aliens Look Like?
• Life May Exist in Titan's Liquid Hydrocarbon Lakes
• Earth's Asphalt Lakes Hint at Possibility of Life on Titan
• Life found in liquid asphalt lake
• Life in the sticky lane
• Acid mine microbes with tiny genomes (work of Baker, Banfield, et al).
• Tiny microbes with an ultra-tiny genome found; some impaled
• Bizarre super-small microbes discovered
• Gulf of mexico clean up and other clean up stories
• Could bacteria clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill?
• Calling All Plastic-Loving Microbes
• Oil-Devouring Microbes Cast as Environmental Super Heroes
• Aliens among us
• The Aliens Among Us
• Marine microbial census
• Slideshow: Marine Microbes Rule the Seas
• Ocean Explorers Discover New World of Microscopic Microbes
• Largest database of marine life developed
• Ocean census uncovers 'new world' of marine microbe life