Becky Oskin, OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer
Blobs and smears of microbial life growing
in clear plastic disks are confirmation of a community living in a lake buried
beneath the Antarctic ice, scientists studying the lake have said.
Water retrieved from subglacial Lake
Whillans contains about 1,000 bacteria per milliliter (about a fifth
of a teaspoon) of lake water, biologist John Priscu of Montana State
University told
Nature News. Petri dishes swiped with samples of the lake water are already
growing colonies of microbes at a good rate, Nature News reported.
Lake Whillans is 2,625 feet (800 meters)
below the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. After breaking through the ice on Jan. 28,
researchers are returning to the United States with 8 gallons (30 liters) of
lake water and eight sediment cores from the lake bottom. These samples will be
tested for signs of microbial life, which could shed light on the types of
extreme life that is able to thrive in such harsh
environments.
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