(Credit: Christine and David
Schmitt)
Posted by: Jason McClellan August
7, 2014 0 901
Views
Scientists discovered
microorganisms living inside a giant asphalt lake on Earth, which suggests that
life could exist in similar environments on other worlds.
Astrobiologists search for life
existing in extreme environments, known as extremophiles, to enhance the
understanding of the types of environments in which life can exist. By gaining
a better understanding of where life can exist on Earth, scientists are able to
expand their search for extraterrestrial life.
Pitch Lake. (Credit: Rainer
Meckenstock)
Researchers recently studied
Pitch Lake on the Caribbean island of Trinidad, which happens to be the largest
naturally occurring asphalt lake on Earth. Scientists considered the oil in
this roughly 114 acre lake too toxic to support life. But, as LiveScience explains,
“Now, scientists find microbes active within Pitch Lake,
dwelling inside water droplets as small as 1 microliter, about one-fiftieth the
size of an average drop of water.”
Dirk Schulze-Makuch,
astrobiologist and co-author of this recent study, explains, “Each of these
water droplets basically contains a little mini-ecosystem.” Environmental
microbiologist Rainer Meckenstock, the study’s lead author, believes, “The
microbes most likely were enclosed in droplets in the deep subsurface and
ascended together with the oil.” This discovery is potentially good news for
the possibility of life on Saturn’s moon Titan,
which Schulze-Makuch explains has hydrocarbon lakes on its surface. LiveScience explains
that “Water-ammonia mixtures may rise up to Titan’s surface from below, just as
the water found in droplet form in Pitch Lake is thought to have.”
An illustration of a lake on
Titan. (Credit: Ron Miller)
Schulze-Makuch was part of
another recent study that asserts the Milky Way is home to one hundred million
planets that could support alien life. And not just simple microbial life, but
complex alien life.
The findings from this research
were published in the August 8 issue of the journal Science.
ABOUT JASON MCCLELLAN
Jason McClellan is a UFO
journalist and the producer/co-host of the web series Spacing Out! He is also
the web content manager and staff writer for OpenMinds.tv, and a co-organizer
and technical producer of the International UFO Congress. As a founding member
of Open Minds, Jason served as a writer and editor for the now defunct Open
Minds magazine. He has appeared on Syfy, NatGeo, and, most recently, he
co-starred on H2's Hangar 1: The UFO Files. ------ Follow
Jason on Twitter @acecentric and subscribe to
Jason's updates onFacebook.
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