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Antarctic Expedition To Track Down Extreme Living Creatures
WirePosted tips us to a story about a group of scientists who are heading to Antarctica to study organisms that thrive in climates too extreme for most other life forms. The team will be visiting a lake that has a pH "like strong Clorox," the sediments of which "produce more methane than any other natural body of water on our planet." The scientists hope to learn about the potential for life in other unforgiving climates, such as those on Mars or the various ice-covered moons in the Solar System. Expedition leader Richard Hoover was quoted saying, "This will help us decide where to search for life on other planets and how to recognize alien life if we actually find it." We've previously discussed Antarctic microbes as they related to conditions on Mars.
Tekeli-li!
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Finding out more about the *origins* of life is far more interesting than terraforming,in my view.
Terraforming is a far-off prospect, at best -- and quite possibly, not even feasible anywhere in this solar system. (the "gravity problem" of Mars may be impossible to overcome.)
On the other hand, if more of these extremophiles and endoliths are found, and their DNA sequenced -- we could gain true insights in to the first lifeforms that lived on earth and how they arose. Furthermore, it is exactly their *slow metabolism* that may make it possible for such organisms to live for thousands or millions of years. (validating panspermia a real possibility.)