Ancient Ecosystem Found In Ice Pocket

ApharmdB writes "Beneath a glacier in Antarctica, scientists have discovered a community of microbes growing in frigid pools of salty water. It's a particularly tough environment, with no light, no oxygen, and extremely cold temperatures. But the microbes appear to live — and thrive — off a combination of iron and sulfur, according to a new study. The result of that strange metabolism is a brilliant red streak of cascading ice called Blood Falls."

Comments

Similarity

[Verteiron]

A red streak, huh? Looking at the picture, it's sort of a orange-red rust color. A rust-colored streak in the middle of a bunch of ice. What does it remind me of? Ah, yes.

Missing option

[codeButcher]

Ancient Ecosystem Found...

from the so-it's-not-a-traditional-honeymoon-suite dept.

... discovered a community of microbes ... It's a particularly tough environment, with no light, no oxygen, and extremely cold temperatures. But the microbes appear to live -- and thrive -- off a combination of iron and sulfur, according to a new study.

Pray tell, have they thought about looking in CowboyNeal's belly button yet?

Looks more like...

[Cornwallis]

After looking at the picture I imagine they are calling it Blood Falls because Diarrhea Falls wouldn't be quite so compelling.

My discovery

[tttonyyy]

That's nothing. I've discovered programmers working in grey cubicals of resolute despair. It's a particularly tough environment, with no light, no personal hygiene, and extremely bad management. But the programmers appear to live -- and thrive -- off a combination of electricity and light, according to a new study. The result of that strange metabolism is the brilliant ability to avoid work called "Reading Slashdot".

Re:Can this be replicated for classroom use?

[oneirophrenos]

If these living creatures are harmful to plants, animals, or the other living creatures we depend on, then it's probably a no-go.

This is extremely unlikely. For a microbe to be able to live within another organism, it would have to have gone through generations and generations of mutation-driven evolution so that it would not be instantly killed by its host's immune system.

Re:How did it first appear?

[jeffb (2.718)]

There's no evidence that life could ever appear in such environments starting from abiotic conditions, it seems pretty obvious these organisms evolved from more benign habitats.

Like, say, a moon that's crunchy on the outside, but warm on the inside? With lots of organics and water?

I don't think Europa is a perfect haven for biology, but I can easily imagine a race somewhere that has a complete explanation for how they evolved under an ice crust, and that would scoff at the notion of life on the exposed, irradiated, violent surface of a planet...

Re:Pockets are amazing places...

[Old Grey Beard]

String ... or nothing!

Arthur C. Clarke FTW

[NonUniqueNickname]

Maybe no one has read it. In Odyssey 3001 (The Final Odyssey) Clarke wrote about a sulfur-based life forms on Jupiter's Europa moon.

Re:Arthur C. Clarke FTW

[oneirophrenos]

Maybe no one has read it. In Odyssey 3001 (The Final Odyssey) Clarke wrote about a sulfur-based life forms on Jupiter's Europa moon.

This particular microbe, however, is not sulfur-based. "Sulfur-based" would indicate that its molecules are largely built out of sulfur (as ours are of carbon), whereas these microbes only utilize sulfur in their energy production.

Re:Arthur C. Clarke FTW

[NonUniqueNickname]

Sorry, I misspoke when I said "Sulfur-based". The Europa critters in Odyssey 3001 metabolized sulfur, not sure of their composition. They were also said to be slower than earth life-forms, because metabolizing sulfur isn't as intensive as metabolizing oxygen.

Re:How did it first appear?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think Europa is a perfect haven for biology, but I can easily imagine a race somewhere that has a complete explanation for how they evolved under an ice crust, and that would scoff at the notion of life on the exposed, irradiated, violent surface of a planet...

I'm not sure I would consider slashdotters a "race", but I for one and comforted by my maternal subterranean lair, and agree with the above statement.

Re:Can this be replicated for classroom use?

[CorporateSuit]

This is extremely unlikely. For a microbe to be able to live within another organism, it would have to have gone through generations and generations of mutation-driven evolution so that it would not be instantly killed by its host's immune system.

Things have changed. Now all they need is a good lawyer and they press charges against the immune system. The immune system is issued a cease and desist, and the microbes receive special protection under the state constitution against any further incursion from the immune system onto the microbes' new home.

Eating the past, with relish

[handy_vandal]

"In 1949 some friends and I came upon a noteworthy news item in Nature, a magazine of the Academy of Sciences. It reported in tiny type that in the course of excavations on the Kolyma River a subterranean ice lens had been discovered which was actually a frozen stream-and in it were found frozen specimens of prehistoric fauna some tens of thousands of years old. Whether fish or salamander, these were preserved in so fresh a state, the scientific correspondent reported, that those present immediately broke open the ice encasing the specimens and devoured them with relish on the spot."

- Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Arachipelago

Link