Lake Vostok mysteries: Biologists find over 3,500 life forms in isolated Antarctic basin

reply to post by Harte


Still surprised that nothing "unique" has been found. So far they seem to have found microbes that are common in the ocean.

Edit: I did some digging and apparently they say there are many unknown lifeforms found, which is what I expected.

The majority were found to be bacteria, many of which are completely new to science

www.wired.co.uk...

good stuff

reply to post by TheToastmanCometh


The article says Lake VIDA not Vostock from your link

Various types of bacteria were found in Lake Vida beneath a 50-foot thick sheet of ice

It also states.

Researchers were able to identify 32 species of bacteria from their sample

Not 3,500 then.

The discovery may also give new hope to researchers who have worked towards finding life in Lake Vostok,

Better change the thread title.

reply to post by wmd_2008


You looked at the wrong link. That was "related links" not the link to the story in the OP. I don't know why he did that, it's confusing. His title is fine and matches the finds from Vostok.

ETA: Link
rt.com...

Originally posted by OccamsRazor04
reply to post by wmd_2008

 

You looked at the wrong link. That was "related links" not the link to the story in the OP. I don't know why he did that, it's confusing. His title is fine and matches the finds from Vostok.

ETA: Link
rt.com...

edit on 8-7-2013 by OccamsRazor04 because: (no reason given)

His link takes you to the Lake Vida story , that's his problem not mine!

Originally posted by TheToastmanCometh

Lake Vostok mysteries: Biologists find over 3,500 life forms in isolated Antarctic basin

Cthulu?

I think the scientists are finally declassifying what was found at the Mountains of Madness.

Originally posted by Harte

Originally posted by PhoenixOD
So still abiogenesis has only ever happened once on this planet as far as we can tell which proves that life spotaneously happening is more complicated than most people would like to think.

These findings don't speak to that, and there's no way we could know how many times abiogenesis has occurred.

This lake has only been frozen over for 15 million years or so. That sounds like a long time but is really just the blink of an eye in the history of the Earth, or even the history of life on the Earth.

Harte

10,000 years ago, the North Sea didn't exist - it was all marshland and one giant land mass. Land can rise or fall 10 metres after an earthquake, or islands completely disappear after a volcanic eruption.

reply to post by TheToastmanCometh


Thanks so much for this update!!!
S & F

Looks like we opened ourselves up for the next pandemic. Hopefully they sealed the hole they drilled!

reply to post by TheToastmanCometh


Big Fat S & F

Great read.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

One wonders how many more locations me be found elsewhere..

Say maybe on an ice moon?

reply to post by SLAYER69


From a BBC report on the PLoS One journal, looks like "Lake Vostok is the largest of about 375 sub-glacial bodies of water now mapped under Antarctica's ice sheet."

Interesting that they have found matches to "....types of bacteria that thrive in hot environments, such as around volcanic hydrothermal vents on the sea floor. If such vents existed in Vostok, they could "provide sources of energy and nutrients vital for organisms living in the lake".

They also say that there are undersurface rivers that may have brought in "...many of the identified organisms, or their traces, could perhaps have been delivered to Vostok from the ocean."

One final reference, is that "They found signatures for organisms such as bacteria that are often associated with marine molluscs, crustaceans and even fish." although they are expressing caution about this conjecture, saying it might just be past contamination.

Interesting stuff.

www.bbc.co.uk...

www.plosone.org...
Subglacial Lake Vostok (Antarctica) Accretion Ice Contains a Diverse Set of Sequences from Aquatic, Marine and Sediment-Inhabiting Bacteria and Eukarya

reply to post by dowot


Thanks for posting the information.
Very informative

reply to post by SLAYER69


My pleasure.

Saving up reading the journal article till I have a very "constipated day"! Looks to be a long and in depth read.

Finding 15 million year old life in this lake does not mean aliens can do the same, It only means simple life here on earth can get by in a horrible deep dark lake for 15 million years, I do not understand the correlation between our extremophiles and potentially alien species on another planet doing the exact same thing. Find another earth like planet then yeah maybe but this does not prove nothing but that terrestrial life forms are extremely resilient.

Nonetheless if they find complex lifeforms that would be pretty cool.

Europa is not Earth, It's a moon so the life we find here could not exist there it would be truly alien from what we understand even though its prob mostly water.

2 miles of ice..........

Great research going on there. I think it will be interesting to see how the multi-cellular organisms adapted for their environment.

The resiliance of bacteria here on earth is incredible. I am moving more from hope to belief that bacterial life can be found on any planet with the correct chemical makeup. I cannot believe that there isn't an instrument to search for bacterial life on the Curiosity rover. What was NASA thinking?

Originally posted by OccamsRazor04
reply to post by Harte

 

Still surprised that nothing "unique" has been found. So far they seem to have found microbes that are common in the ocean.

Edit: I did some digging and apparently they say there are many unknown lifeforms found, which is what I expected.

The majority were found to be bacteria, many of which are completely new to science

www.wired.co.uk...

So the question now becomes - how many of the unknowns are prehistoric, and how many evolved in Lake Vostok?

Harte

Originally posted by libertytoall
Looks like we opened ourselves up for the next pandemic. Hopefully they sealed the hole they drilled!

Standard operating procedure.

They wouldn't want to contaminate the lake.

You're right, though, to be concerned about exposure.

Harte