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Thread: Antarctic lake - Life found in lake Vostok

  1. 10-Sep-2012 #1
    Neil
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    Antarctic lake - Life found in lake Vostok

    I've been watching news on this project for years. The idea is to drill into a lake trapped under X kilometers of ice to see if life exists there. It's believed the lake has been trapped for hundreds of thousands of years. Possibly millions!

    If life exists there, then it could bodes well for similar environments on Europa or Enceladus for example.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/sc...e-8117775.html


    Twelve British scientists are about to embark on a gruelling expedition to the Antarctic, sleeping and living packed together in small tents for months on end, testing their endurance of the conditions – and one another – in a quest to uncover a lost world frozen beneath the ice for hundreds of thousands of years.

    Their search for microbial lifeforms will take them to the darkest depths of an Antarctic lake that has been buried under three kilometres of ice.

    The British team will later this year start to drill through the thick ice sheet of West Antarctica to retrieve samples of water and mud from Lake Ellsworth, one of about 150 subglacial lakes in the frozen continent.
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  2. 17-Sep-2012 #2
    Mike70
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    Quote Originally Posted by Neil View Post
    I've been watching news on this project for years. The idea is to drill into a lake trapped under X kilometers of ice to see if life exists there. It's believed the lake has been trapped for hundreds of thousands of years. Possibly millions!

    If life exists there, then it could bodes well for similar environments on Europa or Enceladus for example.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/sc...e-8117775.html



    The russians are also involved in a similar experiment at Lake Vostok, which lies under about 4,000 meters of ice. i'm gonna link the wiki page. you can follow up on it at your leisure. all the relevant articles are linked from there.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Vostok
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  3. 17-Sep-2012 #3
    Neil
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike70 View Post
    The russians are also involved in a similar experiment at Lake Vostok, which lies under about 4,000 meters of ice. i'm gonna link the wiki page. you can follow up on it at your leisure. all the relevant articles are linked from there.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Vostok
    I didn't think that one was self contained, but the wiki article (from a quick glance) implies it is!?
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  4. 18-Sep-2012 #4
    Mike70
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    Quote Originally Posted by Neil View Post
    I didn't think that one was self contained, but the wiki article (from a quick glance) implies it is!?
    I really don't think anyone knows that yet. certainly the russians believe that it is self contained but only time and some exploration will settle that question.

    who knows what could lie under all those kms of ice on antarctica?
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  5. 18-Sep-2012 #5
    AcesandEights
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    Quote Originally Posted by Neil View Post
    Antarctic lake - What lies beneath
    A shoggoth, obviously!

    I know we shouldn't stop searching and pushing the boundaries of our knowledge, but I do always get nervous about age old pathogens being uncovered in this way. But you guys would probably be more knowledgeable about the feasibility of an ancient bacterium or virus being unearthed that humans would be susceptible to.

    Am I off in this line of reasoning?

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  6. 18-Sep-2012 #6
    Mike70
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    Quote Originally Posted by AcesandEights View Post
    A shoggoth, obviously!

    I know we shouldn't stop searching and pushing the boundaries of our knowledge, but I do always get nervous about age old pathogens being uncovered in this way. But you guys would probably be more knowledgeable about the feasibility of an ancient bacterium or virus being unearthed that humans would be susceptible to.

    Am I off in this line of reasoning?
    no. that is a serious consideration when something like this is undertaken. but remember of all the known forms of microbial/viral life, only a small amount of them have the ability to make humans ill. it isn't something to lightly dismiss but not something to fret over. the vast majority of those have either co-evolved along with humans (like tuberculosis and the flu) or cross over from animals when a mutation occurs.

    even strains of the species of bacteria are different. take E. Coli for example, we are all colonized by one form of the bacteria that help us digest food but other strains can kill you.
    Last edited by Mike70; 18-Sep-2012 at 05:41 PM. Reason: d
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  7. 18-Sep-2012 #7
    MoonSylver
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    Quote Originally Posted by AcesandEights View Post
    A shoggoth, obviously!
    Thought had occurred to me that this would make a great HPL story, but sadly it'll probably be fuel for another ScyFi/Asylum "film" instead...
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  8. 19-Sep-2012 #8
    Mike70
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    Quote Originally Posted by MoonSylver View Post
    Thought had occurred to me that this would make a great HPL story, but sadly it'll probably be fuel for another ScyFi/Asylum "film" instead...
    jeez...how many frozen in the ice prehistoric monster movies have they done already? guess one more wouldn't hurt...unless it is your eyesight you are worried about. some of those flicks are such calamitous pieces of crap they are actually entertaining in weird kind of way.

    I can see "OctoShoggoth vs. CrocaCthulu" in the near future.
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  9. 20-Dec-2012 #9
    Neil
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    Nice little update! It's all kicking off now - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20695592
    Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. [click for more]
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  10. 21-Dec-2012 #10
    aaron2
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    I haven't heard about it and if the life exist there then it will take years so establish a life there
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  11. 22-Dec-2012 #11
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    "You guys think I'M crazy! Well, that's fine! Most of you don't know what's going on around here, but I'm damn well sure SOME of you do! You think that thing wanted to be an animal? No dogs make it a thousand miles through the cold! No, you don't understand! That thing wanted to be US!"
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  12. 23-Dec-2012 #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Purge View Post
    "You guys think I'M crazy! Well, that's fine! Most of you don't know what's going on around here, but I'm damn well sure SOME of you do! You think that thing wanted to be an animal? No dogs make it a thousand miles through the cold! No, you don't understand! That thing wanted to be US!"
    Huh??
    Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. [click for more]
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  13. 23-Dec-2012 #13
    MoonSylver
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    Quote Originally Posted by Purge View Post
    "You guys think I'M crazy! Well, that's fine! Most of you don't know what's going on around here, but I'm damn well sure SOME of you do! You think that thing wanted to be an animal? No dogs make it a thousand miles through the cold! No, you don't understand! That thing wanted to be US!"


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    Quote Originally Posted by Neil View Post
    Huh??
    *Tsk* And you call yourself a horror fan. Good thing this is your forum.
    Last edited by MoonSylver; 23-Dec-2012 at 10:27 PM. Reason: I'm-a-gonna-KEEL-YOU!!!
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  14. 27-Dec-2012 #14
    Neil
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    Mission called off

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20850360
    Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. [click for more]
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  15. 08-Mar-2013 #15
    Neil
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    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21709225

    Russian scientists have claimed the discovery of a new type of bacterial life in water from a buried Antarctic lake.

    The researchers have been studying samples brought up from Vostok - the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica.

    Last year, the team drilled through almost 4km (2.34 miles) of ice to reach the lake and retrieve samples.

    Vostok is thought to have been cut off from the surface for millions of years.
    Right! Lesson learned... now let's get a bot to Europa!!
    Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. [click for more]
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