Extreme life conjures up hints to Martian past

• Autores: Michael Slezak
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 2934, 2013, pág. 13
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Life has been found hiding in one of the most inhospitable lakes on Earth, one which closely resembles Martian lakes. The finding suggests that people need to look for evidence of life on Mars in a new way. Extreme environments all over this planet have been probed for life. But most are extreme in just one way: temperature or pH, say. Examining Lake Magic in Western Australia, Kathleen Benison and Amber Conner found it to be extreme in almost every way. They measured the pH at 1.7--about the same as stomach acid. The lake can be 10 times as salty as seawater. They also found that levels of dissolved silica, aluminium and sulphur in the lake were as high or higher than in bodies of water famous for high levels of just one of the elements.