Methane-Eating Bacteria May Presage ET Life 91
asukasoryu sends along an intriguing piece in light of our recent discussion of possible signs of life on Saturn's moon Titan. "Researchers have discovered that methane-eating bacteria survive in a unique spring located on Axel Heiberg Island in Canada's extreme north. The subzero water is so salty that it doesn't freeze despite the cold, and it has no consumable oxygen in it. There are, however, big bubbles of methane that come to the surface. Lyle Whyte, McGill University microbiologist, explains that the so-called Lost Hammer spring supports microbial life, that the spring is similar to possible past or present springs on Mars, and that therefore they too could support life."
Re:Methane eating bacteria? (Score:4, Informative)
> Can we transplant some of these methane-eating into the Gulf of Mexico?
They're already on the job. Just give them a few decades.
(To be pedantic, different species, better adapted to the environment.)