Posts Tagged ‘life’

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I’d better bring my sunhat

November 30, 2012

A followup to my previous blog post. Apparently, the news from Mars that was going to be “one for the history books” was a big misunderstanding between the NASA scientist and the Slate interviewer. NASA have confirmed that they haven’t found organics. What they have found is volcanic sand, the mineral makeup of which has been compared to the sand on the volcano Mauna Kea in Hawaii. This is interesting in itself, but not as exciting as we hoped. We’re still at the beginning of Curiosity’s mission, so we can hope for more news in the future.

MESSENGER approaching Mercury

MESSENGER approaching Mercury (Credit: NASA)

On the other hand, this news has been trumped by some news from the MESSENGER probe that is orbiting Mercury. This has found not only organics, but ice as well! On a planet that experiences temperatures more than 400 degrees celcius this is surprising, but it appears that the craters offer enough shade. The other interesting thing to note is that the organics are covering the ice, which means they were probably deposited by comets. Their proximity could imply that life may exist under the ice, but there’s not enough information as of yet. This could prove to be an unexpected one for the history books.

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It’s life, pretty much as we know it

November 28, 2012

The results have come in, and life has been found under Lake Vida in Antarctica. Carbon isotope measurements of the surrounding ice show that the life has been separated from the atmosphere and light for around 2,800 years.
Whilst other extremeophiles have been found in places like geothermal vents, at least their means of sustenance is pretty well understood. Lake Vida is very salty and cold, so it’s not clear how they have survived, although they could have gone into a form of suspended animation over the last three millenia. They do look quite chipper for having a snooze, though.
This discovery does, however, expand our understanding of under what conditions life can survive. This comes on the heels of the widening of the Goldilocks Zone – the distance from the sun which would support the kind of life found on Earth. Hopefully, this means that life throughout the universe is more common than once thought, which in turn could bring back a sense of adventure in our exploration of our little bit of space.
The paper is here.

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