‘Devil Worm’ Takes Animal Life to New Depths; (from a mile down below!)

It came from the deep, a mile below the Earth’s surface, in a place where only bacteria were thought to exist

It’s Halicephalobus mephisto, a new species of roundworm that radically extends the possibilities of animal life on this planet and perhaps on others.

“Our results expand the known metazoan biosphere and demonstrate that deep ecosystems are more complex than previously accepted,” wrote researchers led by biologist Gaetan Borgonie of Belgium’s Ghent University in a June 1 Nature paper. “The ability of multicellular organisms to survive in the subsurface should be considered in the evolution of eukaryotes and the search for life on Mars.”

For the last 20 years, Borgonie has studied roundworms, developing what he calls “a healthy respect for their ability to withstand stress.” Various members of the ubiquitous, 28,000-species-strong phylum can live almost without oxygen, in extremely acidic environments, and despite prolonged starvation. When space shuttle Columbia tragically disintegrated upon re-entering Earth’s atmosphere in 2003, roundworms in a canister on its wings survived.

Source: www.wired.com...

I just love this stuff. And, I like the thinking outside the box-meanng about Mars and possible life DEEP down- Possible.... for now.

It's great that we continue to explore and develope info and tech on earth that will help our Explorers of the Future survive and hopefully thrive on other worlds.

Now, getting back to Earth. What the hell else could be lurking down in the depths of Good Old Earth? Maybe, Just maybe we haven't dug down far enough yet to learn our real beginnings... or endings....

There more we learn about Earth, the less we know about Earth.

Looks like it has a mouth like a hookworm nasty buggers if they get you. Earth can be scary at time can I go to Mars now?

Oh yuk!

Please tell me that is not a still living 'ancestor' type thingy. I look at worms and see the simplest form of life before a skeletal spine and skull evolved. I can't believe its durability nor can I really equate that with the concept of 'life' on other planets such as Mars.

reply to post by stonebutterfly


That's what I wanted to say/indicate.

Thank you.

I have done a few threads on caves lately and when you put that info together with this info.... watch out down there.

I wonder what it eats...


kx

Originally posted by stonebutterfly
There more we learn about Earth, the less we know about Earth.

That doesn't even make sense
I hate when people try to sound deep.


If we learn more about earth, that means we know more about earth, stop trying to make it a deep paradox when it's not that deep at all.

reply to post by anon72


Nice.

Was really hoping for something more like the giant worms from Tremors though.

If life on Earth is this weird I can't imagine what life on other planets is like.

reply to post by Titen-Sxull


Maybe they didn't go down fall enough yet...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b0fd72614e0a.jpg[/atsimg]

Science continues to explore and define what the conditions for life in the universe beyond.

I think the possibilities for life in this universe are way more vast that we all think, and the Goldilocks zone doesn't define where life exist in this universe.

If Something like that could maybe bio-electrically react with the deep eroded soils of Mars.

Is there something lurking in Mars, possibly, eating Mars itself?