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Lake Vostok Found Teeming With Life

Posted by samzenpus on from the deep-ones-not-included dept.

jpyeck writes "Lake Vostok, Antarctica's biggest and deepest subsurface lake, might contain thousands of different kinds of tiny organisms — and perhaps bigger fish as well, researchers report. The lake, buried under more than 2 miles (3.7 kilometers) of Antarctic ice, has been seen as an earthly analog for ice-covered seas on such worlds as Europa and Enceladus. It's thought to have been cut off from the outside world for as long as 15 million years. But the latest results, reported in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, suggest that the lake isn't as sterile or otherworldly as some scientists might have thought. More than 3,500 different DNA sequences were identified in samples extracted from layers of ice that have built up just above the surface of the lake."

5 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. Are any of them potentially dangerous? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    They should get one of the clipboard guys to chug a bottle and see if he mutates.

    1. Re:Are any of them potentially dangerous? by TWiTfan · · Score: 5, Funny

      Screw dangerous, I'm wondering how those fish *taste*.

      --
      The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
  2. Don't dig up the spaceship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    That ends badly

  3. After all the fuss by Provocateur · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...it turns out to be life as we know it

    --
    WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
  4. Drop a few kilos of explosives down the chute by Adult+film+producer · · Score: 3, Funny

    See if anything floats to the surface? Probably the easiest way to confirm.