No Microbes In First Sample From Lake Vostok

Posted by Soulskill on Friday October 19, 2012 @02:48AM from the what-about-ancient-sea-monsters dept.

ananyo writes "A first analysis of the ice that froze onto the drillbit used in last February's landmark drilling to a pristine Antarctic lake shows no native microbes came up with the lake water, according to Sergey Bulat of Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute (Russia). The very uppermost layer of Lake Vostock appears to be 'lifeless' so far, says Bulat, but that doesn't mean the rest of it is. Bulat and his colleagues counted the microbes present in the ice sample and checked their genetic makeup to figure out the phylotypes. They counted fewer than 10 microbes/ml — about the same magnitude they would expect to find in the background in their clean room."

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Re:Not fooled by Chickan · 2012-10-19 06:51 · Score: 3, Insightful

I think AC's statement was addressing how long winded your response was. While I do not disagree with your thesis, your argument was quite thorough for a simple comparison. This leads AC and myself to believe you've spent a LOT of time thinking about this. Carry on.