Scientists Find Unexpected Trove of Life Forms Beneath Antarctic Ice Shelf (theverge.com) 13
A team of researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany has discovered a whopping 77 seafloor-dwelling species beneath an Antarctica ice shelf -- a hint that this mysterious realm may be far more biologically rich than scientists realized. From a report: Little is known about the environment beneath Antarctica's floating ice shelves, the seaward extensions of the continent's glaciers that span 1.6 million square kilometers. It's a harsh, cold environment shrouded in continuous darkness, and previous studies of life beneath the ice have only documented a few dozen hardy life forms. The new research, published earlier this month in Current Biology, identified more species in a single spot than had previously been documented across all the ice shelves of the frozen continent. After drilling two holes through the Weddell Sea's Ekstrom Ice Shelf, the researchers collected seabed specimens in 2018. They found the biodiversity on this patch of seafloor to be "richer than many open water samples found on the continental shelf where there is light and food sources," according to a press release from the British Antarctic Survey. Four of the species studied experienced yearly growth rates "comparable with similar animals" in open water habitats.
The Laws of B-Sci-Fi say Noooo! (Score:2)
This makes me nervous
Re:The Laws of B-Sci-Fi say Noooo! (Score:5, Funny)
It was an ancient life form kept trapped under the ice for eons waiting, biding its time, until science sprung it forth to wreak havoc on the descendants of the people that had entombed it in the ancient age. Beyond terror. Beyond evil. Beyond your wildest imagination.
Prepare yourself for: Creatures that can't survive outside their normal icy existence.
Damn. Thought we were in real trouble there for a second.
Re: (Score:1)
If you try to interject logic and reason into B-sci-fi plots, I'm gonna take away your "B" card, Mr. Cooper.
Re: (Score:2)
Think how fast the movie could be over if there were some logic involved? Why, we could slash the budget and the time to market! GENIUS!
Actually, not nonsense at all (Score:2)
These bugs obviously have some special tough genes. If we could glue them onto a frail Ebola virus, slow it down with a bit of HIV, maybe add a spike protein, we might create something that is a lot of fun to study. In the Laboratory, of course. Just in case such a thing evolved naturally, we need to get ahead of the game by building artificial versions and seeing how they behave....
Incidentally, there is now no doubt that Covid-19 escaped from a lab ... in Taiwan -- revenge of an angry mouse. (After the
Big Azzed Ships (Score:2)
Wow (Score:2)
What's this about a harsh environment? (Score:2)
Just above freezing is comfy. You can keep your sweaty rain forests. The locale is not to everybody's taste, I agree, but it does keep out the riff-raff. We live a quiet life here. A nutritious nibble might drift past every week or so. Poor but happy, that's what we are.
I can't help but wonder... (Score:2)
How many species have we already eradicated without even knowing they existed?
Re: (Score:1)
Dunno, but I bet there's a recipie.
Re: (Score:2)
Let me guess (Score:2)
They are all critically endangered, essential for the continuance of human life on this planet, and no cost too high for the superhuman effort to protect.