Lake-drilling team discovers life under the ice in Antarctica!

[Bradyns]

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[TD][h2]Lake-drilling team discovers life under the ice.[/h2][B]Host of microbes found in lake deep under Antarctica's ice sheet.[/B][/TD]
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[TD="align: center"][quote][IMG]http://www.nature.com/polopoly_fs/7.8900.1360606678!/image/1.12405_borehole_0.jpg_gen/derivatives/fullsize/1.12405_borehole_0.jpg[/IMG][/quote][/TD]
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[TD]Having just completed the tortuous 48-hour journey from the South Pole to the US west coast, John Priscu is suffering from more than his fair share of jet lag. But his tiredness can't mask the excitement in his voice. After weeks of intense field work in Antarctica, he and his team have become the first to find life in a lake trapped under the frozen continent's ice sheet.

“Lake Whillans definitely harbours life,” he says. “It appears that there lies a large wetland ecosystem under Antarctica’s ice sheet, with an active microbiology.”

The lake in question is a 60-square-kilometre body of water that sits on the edge of the Ross Ice shelf in West Antarctica. To reach it, Priscu, a glaciologist at Montana State University in Bozeman, and his team had to drill down 800 metres of ice.

What precious stuff they had retrieved soon became clear under the on-site microscope. Both water and sediment contained an array of microbes that did not need sunlight to survive. The scientists counted about 1,000 bacteria per millilitre of lake water — roughly one-tenth the abundance of microbes in the oceans.[/TD]
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[TD][B]SOURCE: [/B] [URL]http://www.nature.com/news/lake-drilling-team-discovers-life-under-the-ice-1.12405[/URL][/TD]
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[DesolateGrun]

Europa's next!

[Blazyd]

[QUOTE=DesolateGrun;39554014]Europa's next![/QUOTE]

I can't wait

[SquidsEye]

Is this the one which has been isolated for ages and helps to prove that life wasn't just a one off fluke?

[booster]

I know this is [B]very[/B] small in comparison.

But could this info also be of use when investigating if there are any lifeforms on Europa?

[Bradyns]

[QUOTE=DesolateGrun;39554014]Europa's next![/QUOTE]

My sentiments precisely.

[Chris™]

Quick! Call Kurt Russell!

[DesolateGrun]

[QUOTE=squids_eye;39554022]Is this the one which has been isolated for ages and helps to prove that life wasn't just a one off fluke?[/QUOTE]

This isn't lake vostok though, they didn't publish anything about that one yet

[The_J_Hat]

If any one of them reports a Tekeli-li sound, shit, I dunno...

[hypno-toad]

[QUOTE=squids_eye;39554022]Is this the one which has been isolated for ages and helps to prove that life wasn't just a one off fluke?[/QUOTE]

Vostok is the other one, though it was concealed for longer and it's 4 km under the ice instead of .8 km.

[SquidsEye]

[QUOTE=hypno-toad;39554095]Vostok is the other one, though it was concealed for longer and it's 4 km under the ice instead of .8 km.[/QUOTE]

That is disappointing, still good news none the less.

[Schmaaa]

"we interviewed the scientists a few days later, and they had this to say:"

[IMG]http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090503185154/aliens/images/7/78/The_Thing.jpg[/IMG]

[B]ERRRUUUUGUGAAAAAAAAAGGHHGHGH[/B]

[Griff]

[video=youtube;ouZkkIsLiNg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Tn1Y-ERCE[/video]

[hl2poo]

I thought this was Lake Vostok. But still this is awesome. Can't wait to see what we'll find under Europa. Imagine a bunch of scary sea creatures with bioluminescence and shit.

[hypno-toad]

If nothing else this adds validity and optimism to the vostok mission

I have a feeling that there won't be as much life in vostok and they'll probably need to drop a diving robot in before they find anything.

The Europa mission is going to be a nightmare though. Drilling in Antarctica is hard enough, drilling on a moon, with a probe, 4.2 AU away is going to be something else. Granted it might be one of those issues you can just throw money at, these Antarctica drilling jobs probably have fairly limited funding.

[Fulcrum]

Forgive me if I'm wrong but I don't see great significance of this life. Sure its old but its not that old in terms of life being on earth. At one time antartica wasn't frozen so the bacteria probably got in there and stuck around for abit.
Its a nice insight into a few million years ago but its not like some "alternate form of life from outerspace" thing.

[DeEz]

[QUOTE=mdeceiver79;39554208]Forgive me if I'm wrong but I don't see great significance of this life. Sure its old but its not that old in terms of life being on earth. At one time antartica wasn't frozen so the bacteria probably got in there and stuck around for abit.
Its a nice insight into a few million years ago but its not like some "alternate form of life from outerspace" thing.[/QUOTE]

That's not what this is at all, this isn't some dormant bacteria that has been lying under the ice. There's an entire ecosystem down there.

[Emtu]

[QUOTE=DesolateGrun;39554014]Europa's next![/QUOTE]
ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA
ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE

[laserguided]

Isn't Europa's surface constantly blasted by radiation?

[hypno-toad]

[QUOTE=mdeceiver79;39554208]Forgive me if I'm wrong but I don't see great significance of this life. Sure its old but its not that old in terms of life being on earth. At one time antartica wasn't frozen so the bacteria probably got in there and stuck around for abit.
Its a nice insight into a few million years ago but its not like some "alternate form of life from outerspace" thing.[/QUOTE]

Bacteria doesn't really "stick around" It either dies, goes dormant, or adapts and stays alive and active. These microbes adapted and are alive and active in conditions of extreme cold without sunlight, and it's a good proof of concept for the possible existence of life on a moon like europa.

[0FucksGiven]

aw, people made The Thing jokes before I could :(

pretty neat though

[_maverick_]

[QUOTE=laserguided;39554421]Isn't Europa's surface constantly blasted by radiation?[/QUOTE]

Life adapts remember?

radiation hasn't stopped life blossoming before.
(also on side note: everything in existence creates radiation to some extent.)

i'm sure if there is life, and a constant bombardment of radiation microbes and shit will find a way around it, life always does...

[laserguided]

[QUOTE=_Maverick_;39554501]Life adapts remember?

radiation hasn't stopped life blossoming before.
(also on side note: everything in existence creates radiation to some extent.)

i'm sure if there is life, and a constant bombardment of radiation microbes and shit will find a way around it, life always does...[/QUOTE]

No, the ice shields them from it. But missions there would be complicated.

[_maverick_]

[QUOTE=laserguided;39554421]Isn't Europa's surface constantly blasted by radiation?[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=laserguided;39554562]No, the ice shields them from it. [/QUOTE]

you knew the answer, to your own question...?
then why...

[Joazzz]

[QUOTE=The_J_Hat;39554054]If anyone of them reports a Tekeli-li sound, shit, I dunno...[/QUOTE]
let's hope it's just giant blind albino penguins

[Adbor]

[QUOTE=_Maverick_;39554501]Life adapts remember?

radiation hasn't stopped life blossoming before.
(also on side note: everything in existence creates radiation to some extent.)

i'm sure if there is life, and a constant bombardment of radiation microbes and shit will find a way around it, life always does...[/QUOTE]

Even though you're right, you're talking about millions of years of evolution. Humans landing on Europa might get killed by radiation. They won't adapt within hours (hell, they wouldn't adapt in 200 years) making that world practically impossible to colonise without either going underground or using some radiation shielding.

I'm talking out of my ass though, I know nothing about Europa.

Also it's insane that the lake contains as much as 10% of bacteria as the oceans (per cubic meter of course). That's actually quite a lot for life that has next to no resources to develop. I'm excited!

[laserguided]

[QUOTE=_Maverick_;39554593]you knew the answer, to your own question...?
then why...[/QUOTE]
Rhetorical question. Response to everyone pleading for a mission to Europa.

[Eltro102]

[QUOTE=laserguided;39554421]Isn't Europa's surface constantly blasted by radiation?[/QUOTE]

hence why they're looking for life under its seas

[editline]11th February 2013[/editline]

[QUOTE=Adbor;39554613]Even though you're right, you're talking about millions of years of evolution. Humans landing on Europa might get killed by radiation. They won't adapt within hours (hell, they wouldn't adapt in 200 years) making that world practically impossible to colonise without either going underground or using some radiation shielding.

I'm talking out of my ass though, I know nothing about Europa.

Also it's insane that the lake contains as much as 10% of bacteria as the oceans (per cubic meter of course). That's actually quite a lot for life that has next to no resources to develop. I'm excited![/QUOTE]

well, we could always hide under the oceans, isn't radiation decreased by half for ever 7cm water?

[hypno-toad]

[QUOTE=Adbor;39554613]Even though you're right, you're talking about millions of years of evolution. Humans landing on Europa might get killed by radiation. They won't adapt within hours (hell, they wouldn't adapt in 200 years) making that world practically impossible to colonise without either going underground or using some radiation shielding.
[/QUOTE]

Why would humans land on Europa...?

The point of these missions is not to colonize shitheap planets like europa, it's to determine how much life exists within our own solar system. It's important information because it dramatically effects the tangible odds of life commonly existing in the rest of the universe.

[PaxMayne]

[QUOTE=laserguided;39554421]Isn't Europa's surface constantly blasted by radiation?[/QUOTE]

So is the Moons.