Academic

HMM: Microbes thrive in harsh, Mars-like lakes. Life not only survives but thrives in Australian?

By Glenn Reynolds

HMM: Microbes thrive in harsh, Mars-like lakes.

Life not only survives but thrives in Australian lakes where conditions may be as harsh as those on ancient Mars, a new DNA analysis suggests.

Minerals on Mars studied by the NASA rovers suggest water once flowed on the planet’s surface, but was very salty and acidic, raising doubts about whether it could have supported life.

But in 2007, Melanie Mormile of Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla and colleagues cultured a bacterium from water sampled from one of several salty, acidic lakes in Western Australia.

Of course, the only way to be sure is to look. But personally, I hope there’s no life on Mars.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on March 28, 2010 (boomark / email).