Scientists confirm life under Antarctic ice for the first time
Without sunlight and oxygen is practically impossible to most terrestrial organisms survive. However, there are extremely inhospitable places where life can survive, as for example the oceanic trenches where live bacteria.Scientists have long suspected that life may proliferate in places little conducive, in addition to the oceanic trenches. The latest suspicion is that life may exist under the ice of Antarctica. However, it is no longer a suspect, because a group of Montana State University researchers, the United States, was able to prove the existence of life in this region of the globe.Just over half A kilometre deep Antarctic ice, scientists have found living microorganisms. Researchers, pierced the West Antarctic ice sheet and found organisms called Archaea. These organisms survive by converting methane into energy, allowing them to live in places where there is no wind or sunlight, such as in the icy depths.In the past, the scientific community had already identified bacteria in Antarctic ice samples, but there was suspicion that these bacteria there have gone through contamination from the perforations, referred to Inhabitat. But the existence of microorganisms Archea are living proof that life exists beneath the Antarctic ice.The ice in this region of the planet has common features with other places in the solar system, as the moon Europa, of Jupiter, or the moons Titan and Enceladus, Saturn. The moon Titan is cold but has lakes of liquid methane, which hypothetically might host life. However, space exploration should not reach these sites before 2020 and, as such, will need to wait to confirm the suspicion.Foto:  Alan R. Light / Creative Commons
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