Author: Alissa de Carbonnel
Picture: http://goo.gl/JpTrb
Yahoo News: http://goo.gl/JpTrb
Just recently, a group of Russian scientists have discovered what may be new life forms underneath Antarctica’s ice. After more than a decade of drilling, the scientists have broke into lake Vostok, deep underneath the ice. A sample was taken from the lake and after the scientists got rid of all the known contaminants in the water, unknown bacterial DNA was found in the water. In a separate mission made by the US, living cells were seen under a microscope in water from Lake Whillans, a shallower lake than Lake Vostok. The sample from Lake Vostok came from water that froze onto the drill bit that was being used to drill down. The DNA has not yet been proved to be new life, but may be soon. "If we again identify the same group of organism in that pure sample of water, then we can confidently say we have found new life on Earth," said Sergei Bulat of the St Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute.
I found this article and thought it was interesting because it is about new species that can survive in one of the worlds harshest climates. The bacterial DNA wasn’t just found in the cold of Antarctica, but over twelve thousand feet below the surface. This is very interesting that something could survive in such a cold climate. Another thing that I found interesting in this article is that they could study the DNA that they found. In class we are only just now ending our DNA unit and studying about how it is used in cells.
Interesting post. You didn't mention it, so I'm wondering if the organisms are archaebacteria; extremophiles that survive in very low temperatures, and what evolutionary purpose this will serve, and I wonder if there is anything else we can find under the ice of the south pole.
ReplyDeleteGood job Will,but I think that the life found under the ice bergs could be a type of extremophile. Considering that extremophiles are some of the only know organism to be able to survive in extreme climate such as ice bergs, and volcanoes. It could also take a long time to identify the organism in the pure water sample, so it might be a while till we found out.
ReplyDeleteI found the story very interesting. I am curious to know the history of these organisms, and if they evolved from something from millions of years ago and adapted to fit the frigid conditions in an icy lake. I assume it is an autotroph, because I doubt that there are many other living organisms for it to consume 12,000 feet down. If it is, we must have found an entire food web we didn't even know existed. If there are living things, or even if the DNA is left over from ancient organisms, we can find out tons about the earth in the past and maybe more about similar organisms that live today. Good article.
ReplyDeleteInteresting point about the availability of food 12,000 feet down in a frozen lake. If it was an autotroph, then it would probably would perform chemosynthesis, as sunlight would probably be scarce, as Antarctica has very little sunlight on the surface to start. The organism could have evolved like organisms that live deep in the ocean, using chemicals to make their own food. If the organisms are heterotrophs, then there would have to be a source of food to consume, meaning that there would have to be more organisms to make the food.
DeleteThis was a very good article choice. It sounds like the opening to a horror movie. These organisms that were found in the lake are as Josh said extremophiles as they are the only organism on the planet that could possibly survive such a cold dark environment. This would be more proof that there are still new organisms to be discovered on our planet and it gives the possibility that unicellular organisms could survive on maybe Mars.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this bodes well for any source of life on Mars, even if it is just unicellular organisms. Scientists recently discovered that Mars could have once supported life: the New York Times article is here: nyti.ms/X8ymgL . If organisms can live in such an extreme environment such as Lake Vostok, then they might be able to live on other planets as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Alex on this one. If we can determine that there is an entirely new and undiscovered food web deep beneath the lakes inside the antarctic circle, it could create lasting repercussions in the biological field with all of the new organisms that have to be discovered and named. I don't think there's any question here that the new organism that was supposedly found would be classified as archaebacteria, as Antarctica is so uninhabitable that it has full-time human population of a whopping zero people. Good article. I'll be interested to see if there are any discoveries of unknown organisms in Antarctica in the near future.
ReplyDeleteIf unicellular organisms could survive and adapt to the extreme cold, then there could have been multicellular organisms living down there as well. There may even be fossils. Maybe the climate of this area of Antarctica used to be different. Also, since lakes would freeze from top to bottom, this organism could have been living toward the top and was forced down lower into the lake. And the species continued to strive as the lake continued to freeze downward.
ReplyDeleteGood job Will! I think that this is incredible! The fact that there is still life to be discovered is so fascinating! It just goes to show how little we know about life. How is it that these organisms can live in such extreme climates? What adaptations have they made to help them survive? The points raised above about how the organisms get their food interest me in particular. These organisms are so probably so small that they require very little energy to function. Good job, and very interesting topic!
ReplyDelete