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Life Confirmed At Extreme Depths

Posted by timothy on from the you'll-need-a-serious-deodorant dept.

SEWilco writes "A few years ago the life forms around deep-ocean thermal vents were a surprise. Now ancient bacteria alive in rock 2 miles down have been found. The story is in the San Francisco Chronicle. It is also at Nature.Com, but that server is already rejecting connects. Other bacteria survived frozen in the pressures of an ocean 100 miles deep. This increases the known limits of where life can exist on any planet. Thomas Gold undoubtedly is not surprised at hot, deep bacteria living on hydrogen."

4 of 272 comments (clear)

  1. Ack, another one... by cornjchob · · Score: 4, Interesting

    OK, let me get this out right now: OK, we have life way way down in our earth. That only proves that life as we know it can exist in that extreme of an environment. Comparing that to other planet's life forms or using that as evidence to further any point of extra terrestrial life is very much redundant; life elsewhere could be (and probably is) completely different from ours. Maybe no DNA. maybe no amino acids. Maybe their amino acids are left handed, who knows. But point being: this proves nothing that wasn't proven to any thinking person before.

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    1. Re:Ack, another one... by bahwi · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Thank you. I'm glad someone said it! I think the big question should be did the life form down there in that extreme, or did it form up here in what we consider 'habitable' and evolve to survive down at those depths? I'm pretty sure the answer is that life formed in more what we consider to be 'habitable' and did not form down there, but I think it should also be studied so we know for sure. If we could prove that life could form in those circumstances. I think that would change some thinking.

      Than again, I'm not a biologist (IANAB) nor do I keep up with the news and happenings, although I agree this is definately nerd news. =)

  2. Life can be hardy... by acehole · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's amazing how basic lifeforms can adapt and evolve to thier surroundings. There is also a small cave in the area around the arctic that scientists found that was esentially a bubble inside solid rock, it was found by accident.

    It had inside it a small ecosystem with insect life that had evolved completely isolated from the outside world. None of the species had eyes because of the pitch black inside the bubble. Nor did they have any coloring at all, they were all translucent. Unfortunatly I only saw this on a documentry, but the transcript is online.

    Link is here
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  3. Re:100 miles deep?? Explained! by John+Penix · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's important to note btw, for those who haven't caught this detail, that the subterranean bacteria in question derive energy from chemicals (chemosynthesis) rather than from sunglight (photosynthesis). This discovery in itself was breathtaking, as it means that we might have a way of "farming" even if the sky is blotted out for years, i.e. nuclear winter or ELE (extinction event like comet impact).

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