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| The South Pacific Gyre (Public Domain) |
tend to assume that the
sustenance of any life form
requires a richly nourishing environment.
But scientists have been
discovering the extreme adaptability
of life on our very own planet. Japan’s Agency for Marine-Earth Science
and Technology recently
conducted a study of microbes deep
within the South Pacific
Gyre. This area (east of Australia) has
long been “considered the deadest
part of the world’s oceans.”
After drilled sediments “from
as deep as 5700 meters below sea
level” were taken to the lab and
nutrients were added, oxygen-loving
bacteria that had been dormant for perhaps
millions of years began to
multiply. What had kept them viable for all this
time? Spores were not found, so this
remains a mystery.
Yet if the mystery of
life can survive such a harsh earthly
environment, why can’t it also survive the challenges of other
worlds?
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Copyright July 28, 2020 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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