Experiments uncover microbes able to survive on Mars

[jay gw]

Lab experiments with primitive microbes taken from an Antarctic lake have shown that the hardy single-celled organisms can tolerate at least the warmest of the frigid temperatures on Mars.

And they found that these species of microorganisms "huddled" together in colder temperatures to form a chemically linked unit called a biofilm. The finding marks the first time this phenomenon has been detected in the Antarctic species of extremophiles.

The findings provide more evidence for the ideas that liquid found beneath Mars’ surface could harbor microbial life and that life may exist elsewhere in the galaxy, which is generally incredibly cold.

Scientists with the Maryland Astrobiology Consortium focused on two species of cold-adapted microbes. One, called Halorubrum lacusprofundi, is highly salt-tolerant. The other, Methanococcoides burtonii, can live without oxygen and thrives on methane.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/061031_st_mars_life.html

[a_unique_person]

They also found microbes in South Arfrican mines recently that can survive purely on 'nuclear energy'. That is, the natural radiation in the rocks breaks up the atmosphere down there into components the microbes can survive on. (IIRC)

[Roboramma]

Very cool.

As far as conclusions regarding exo-biology are concerned, though, I thnk we shouldn't take it too far. It's one thing if given time and the right selection pressures, microbes that already got started could evolve to fill these extreme niches. It's something else entirely to say that life could get started in them.

Which isn't to say that it can't, I just think it's a different question. Findings like these offer support for it (because they show that it's at least possible for life to flourish in such environments), but the question is still up for grabs.

Anyway, thanks Mocha. It's cool news! Our planet has an amazing diversity. I hope we get a chance to learn about even half of it. And just think how amazing it would be if we really did find life elsewhere within our lifetimes!

Oh, and aup, that's awesome!

[a_unique_person]

Researchers from Indiana University Bloomington and eight collaborating institutions report in this week's Science a self-sustaining community of bacteria that live in rocks 2.8 kilometers below Earth's surface. Think that's weird? The bacteria rely on radioactive uranium to convert water molecules to useable energy.The discovery is a confirmed expansion of Earth's biosphere, the three-dimensional shell that encompasses all planetary life.



http://www.newsguide.us/education/science/Bacteria-that-use-radiated-water-as-food/