Antarctic Lake Vostok buried under two miles of ice found to teem with life

telegraph.co.uk ^ | 3:23PM BST 06 Jul 2013

[BenLurkin]

Analysis of ice cores obtained from the basin of Lake Vostok, the subglacial lake that Russian scientists drilled down to in 2012, have revealed DNA from an estimated 3,507 organisms.

While the majority were found to be bacteria, many of which were new to science, there were also other single celled organisms and multicellular organisms found, including from fungi.

The diversity of life from the lake has surprised scientists as many had thought the lake would be sterile due to the extreme conditions.

Lake Vostok was first covered by ice more than 15 million years ago and is now buried 12,000 feet beneath the surface, creating huge pressures. Few nutrients were expected to be found.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks BenLurkin.

[SunkenCiv]

NASA map shows what Antarctica would look like without ice
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3029036/posts

Six billion tonnes of water vanishes from underground Antarctic lake
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3038537/posts

[SunkenCiv]

“New DNA” Found In Ice Not New After All
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2995568/posts

[SunkenCiv]

Antarctic ice shelves not melting at all, new field data show
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2899593/posts

Gamburstev And The Alps Underneath The Antarctic
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2334893/posts

[central_va]

I care about bacteria in a sub ice pack lake in Antarctica?

[Rodamala]

“CLOSE THE DOOR!”

[Eaker]

I care about bacteria in a sub ice pack lake in Antarctica?

Enough to click on the thread then post.

[lbryce]

Obama:Been there. Done that....many moons ago.

[martin_fierro]

Was gonna ping ya, but ya beat me to it dangnabbit.

[ThanhPhero]

There are 3507 different organisms now. How many were there 15 million years ago ?

The scientists should check the archives.

[haroldeveryman]

“Maybe we can get Obama to probe Uranus!”

Somehow I just knew that someone would figure out a way to get him interested in a space program.

[BenLurkin]

Nope. Gotta leave that one alone.

[Cyber Liberty]

"They" don't understand human nature. If we got a message like that, Europa would be the first place we go.

[MestaMachine]

Are you still keeping track? There have been so many you’d think I might have flubbed at least one...but nope. All for all with plenty to go.
Next in that area should be the reservoir which SHOULD have been a no brainer years ago.

[MaxMax]

I'm betting "They" taste even better than Dolphin and Baby Seal.
Book title: To serve They.

[knarf]

Good one !!!

[central_va]

When I hear the phrase “teem with life” I don’t think bacteria.

[catfish1957]

Applying some science and math to this. Back in graduate school, I remember hearing that roughly a 1/3 of all bacteria are human pathogens.

Article says that majority of what was found (3507) were new unknown bacterias. So using that critera...... That would mean at least 1754 new bacteria times 1/3 = 584 potential new pathogens. Of course some may be as mild as a cold, but who is to say that one of them is has the ability to spread like a cold, and is as deadly as Bubonic.

I say they autoclave this research, and let Lake Vostok be.

[catfish1957]

After giving this some more thought, I am guessing that the 584 number I stated, may be overstated. The water in Lake Vostok is probably pretty close to freezing to probably no more than 50 degrees at the bottom. These organisms are acclimated to the cold climes, so a human as a host at 98.6 is probably less likely, but who knows, bacteria and viruses for that matter have varying amounts of adaptability, and can handle different levels of environmental conditions.

Still a scary thought, letting something unknown loose like that, but the 584 is too big a number.

On the other hand, are these based on one geographical core? If that is the case, who can say what lurks underneath one side of the lake or the other?

[P.O.E.]

"If you can call that living"