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."

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[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: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: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.