Lake Vostok in Antarctica contains
life – this includes at least one form of life not found elsewhere on Earth,
Russian scientists announced today. Analyses of water samples that were
collected from the lake earlier this year have revealed a species of bacteria
not belonging to any known subkingdoms. "We call it unidentified and
'unclassified' life," the team's leader, Sergei Bulat of the St.
Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, told Russian
news agency RIA Novosti. The bacteria's DNA was less than 86%
similar to known bacterial DNA, indicating that it was a new species, Bulat
said. The Russian team retrieved the samples in January, one year after
successfully completing the 4000-meter drilling through ice to reach the lake's
surface. To confirm the preliminary finding, the team plans to collect new
samples of water from the lake during a return expedition, reportedly in May,
although that's the middle of the Antarctic winter.
Correlation:
Well
later in the semester we will be talking about life on this planet and Lake
Vostok has been thought to be barren for decades. If we are finding new species
that are existing in extremely cold places then maybe there is hope that there
is life on another planet!
Personal Reaction:
I love anything that the Russians do because they are always
finding interesting things. I think it would be cool if they found a new
species because that will lead to more excursions in the future. It might also
help identify things found on other planets.
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