Ancient Ecosystem Found In Ice Pocket 49
ApharmdB writes "Beneath a glacier in Antarctica, scientists have discovered a community of microbes growing in frigid pools of salty water. It's a particularly tough environment, with no light, no oxygen, and extremely cold temperatures. But the microbes appear to live — and thrive — off a combination of iron and sulfur, according to a new study. The result of that strange metabolism is a brilliant red streak of cascading ice called Blood Falls."
Re:Can this be replicated for classroom use? (Score:3, Insightful)
If these living creatures are harmful to plants, animals, or the other living creatures we depend on, then it's probably a no-go.
This is extremely unlikely. For a microbe to be able to live within another organism, it would have to have gone through generations and generations of mutation-driven evolution so that it would not be instantly killed by its host's immune system.
Re:Thaw out the New Plague! (Score:1, Insightful)
That works both ways - bacteria that are too foreign will not be able to survive in the human body. Especially things like these - they live in sub-freezing, completely dark, extremely salty areas and live on iron and sulfur.
There's not a chance that they are going to be able to survive in an environment that is 60-70 degrees F warmer, virtually no salt or sulfur, only a bit of iron, and highly oxygenated.
These are about the last things that we need to worry about becoming a "superbug".