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posted by CoolHand on Saturday May 02 2015, @11:02PM   Printer-friendly
from the wine-and-dine-with-brine dept.

Scientists have discovered bacteria living in sub-surface brine in the Dry Valleys in Antarctica, in conditions similar to those that might still exist on Mars.

At the end of Taylor Glacier, which spills into one of the Dry Valleys (Taylor Valley, actually), a mysterious red trickle of salty, iron-rich water periodically stains the ice as it spills out like blood from a wound. It’s a good thing that it isn’t a paranormal message from ghosts warning researchers to leave the valley, because it has had the opposite effect—it draws them in. In 2012, for example, biologists looking for signs of life eking out an existence in the Dry Valleys discovered that Blood Falls contained an impressive community of microbial life.

It is thought that the weight of the glacial ice is squeezing these periodic flows out of the sediment beneath, but the bigger question is what that water is doing there in the first place. It’s cold enough in this area that Taylor Glacier should be frozen to its bed—which ought to be made of frozen sediment. But that assumes fresh water. The Blood Falls water is salty enough to stay liquid down to -6 degrees Celsius at surface pressure (and could go lower at higher pressure).
...
And if there are bacteria living in the water of Blood Falls, it stands to reason those bacteria live in the groundwater, as well—an unexpected ecosystem in a terribly inhospitable environment surviving because the water is too salty to yield to the frigid temperatures. Those bacteria are probably getting their energy from breaking down minerals in the sediment.

Given recents reports that brine could form on Mars, there's a chance that life once did, or still could, inhabit it. It would rather put the "extreme" in "extremophile," though.

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 03 2015, @01:09AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 03 2015, @01:09AM (#177992)

    Won't you feel like a dumbass when they finally do find syphilis living on Mars.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 03 2015, @02:35AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 03 2015, @02:35AM (#178012)

    Won't you feel like a dumbass when they finally do find syphilis living on Mars.

    Why limit it to Mars? Won't you fell like a dumbass when they find syphilis living on Uranus?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 03 2015, @11:08PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 03 2015, @11:08PM (#178266)

      Damn! He needs some burn cream for his Mars! Not Uranus.

  • (Score: 3, Touché) by Dunbal on Sunday May 03 2015, @02:40AM

    by Dunbal (3515) on Sunday May 03 2015, @02:40AM (#178016)

    I promise to eat a spoonful if they do discover syphilis on Mars.

    • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 03 2015, @02:19PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 03 2015, @02:19PM (#178116)

      what?

      If you are what you eat, and you found syphillus living in Uranus, wouldn't that make you feel like an ass if you ate it?