Russian scientists confirm triumph at Antarctic lake isolated under miles of ice for millions of yrs

[snagglepuss]

snip

After more than two decades of drilling in Antarctica, Russian scientists have confirmed that they reached the surface of a gigantic freshwater lake hidden under miles of ice for some 20 million years.

The scientists returned 40 litres of water to the surface - water isolated from earthly life forms since before Man existed.

snip

The scientists rebuffed claims that their drilling could have contaminated the lake, a body of water which has been in isolation for 20 million years.

snip

Savatyugin said scientists hope to find primeval bacteria that could expand the human knowledge of the origins of life.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2095193/Lake-Vostok-Russian-scientists-confirm-triumph-drilling-successful-Antarctica.html#ixzz1lqVDcWXC

[Iliyah]

1. snip

a possible discovery of the fountain of youth.

[snagglepuss]

4. Could our bodies cope with bacteria they've never encountered?

[tclambert]

22. It's unlikely anything adapted to those conditions would find the human body a friendly environment.

They'd likely find our bodies such alien environments that we'd be extremely toxic to them.

[Shankapotomus]

23. Yes

They would find us unappealing and repugnant. I agree.

[greiner3]

39. Bacteria;

Like ALL life forms mutate. This is called evolution-Can I get a Hallelujah!!!!!!

Once mutated, these new life forms have NEVER been encountered before. Think MRSA!

[muriel_volestrangler]

40. These are, however, not bacteria that live in warm-blooded animals

They live in an extremely different environment from us, and therefore they are very unlikely to thrive where we can, or cause disease in humans. This is what tclambert and Shankapotomus were saying. It's possible they might happen to produce some toxin, but they won't be reproducing rapidly in this very different environment, so evolution of them is not a problem.

[tclambert]

44. MRSA didn't evolve from a never-before-encountered bacterium.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus evolved from the very common Staphylococcus bacteria. That's actually the typical way very virulent diseases arise--by evolving from common microbes that already live on or in humans, like the flu. One small mutation could make these organisms very dangerous. Something that never lived in human beings would likely have to mutate in many, many ways to even survive in a human host, let alone becoming an virulent pathogen.

My point is, the odds of an Andromeda Strain scenario are very, very small. Still, they should be careful.

And are you sure ALL life forms mutate? Look at Republicans. Newt Gingrich is running for President.

[Posteritatis]

46. Anything evolved there would probably find the surface starkly hostile at best

To something that evolved in that lake, my backyard during the day would be a searing, radioactive, corrosive hellscape.

[unkachuck]

5. possibly....

....but drinking 20 million year old water might also give you a bad case of the shits....

[Shankapotomus]

24. That goes without saying (nt)

[WCGreen]

2. I have a bad feeling about this....

I kid I kid...

[Ratty]

3. I know, right?

Waiting for the Dark One to reach out through that bore.

I was thinking of the contamination issue too. It'll be exciting to discover what kind of life there might be, isolated for a bazillion years like that. I hope they sterilized their drill really really good. Like with Lysol or Clorox or something.

[yurbud]

8. Didn't they watch John Carpenter's THE THING?

''What lays in the ice should STAY in the ice.''

But whatever the effects, I hope they find something interesting.

[ladjf]

16. Hey, I remember "The Thing", circa 1951.

[yurbud]

19. that was the first of three

[Scootaloo]

20. First of two

There was never a third. That's my story and I stick with it

[lunatica]

30. A third is in the works

It's pre the Kurt Russell 'The Thing', when the dog/alien gets rescued from the Norwegians in the helicopter trying to kill it. It'll be what happens in the Norwegian camp.

[Scootaloo]

37. It's already been made and released.

It also happens to be pretty awful. Not Highlander 2 awful, perhaps, but... it's bad. American cinema at its blandest.

[yurbud]

48. I just watched it last week. If it had come out BEFORE the 1982 one, it would have been OK

but coming AFTER it was like a high school play of the 1982 one.

The biggest problem was using the exact same setting, and hitting most of the same plot points with very slight variation.

Checking people for fillings didn't pack the same punch as putting a hot wire in their blood sample and seeing the thing's blood jump out.

[Scootaloo]

50. God, that scene always freaked me out

That and the stomach-mouth.

But I guess that's why you shouldn't let five year-olds watch movies like that

[yurbud]

51. if I had seen that at 5, I'd be in a psych ward right now.

I was freaked out and had nightmares from the original FRANKENSTEIN, and he just went around looking ugly and choking people.

[Scootaloo]

52. Man, you were sheltered

I got to watch all the horror movies of the 80's, including things that were horrible in terms of the movie as well as content - Troma films!

I think I turned pretty normal!

[img][/img]

...Okay well maybe "normal" isn't the right word...

[yurbud]

53. I'm probably a little older

[RebelOne]

42. I have a VCR tape of The Thing.

I saw the film when it first aired in movie theaters, but have watched the taoe at least 100 times. It was one of the best SF films ever.

[tclambert]

45. VCR tape? What's that? You must be really old.

I kid. I remember punch cards for computers. We used to make Christmas wreaths out of discarded ones.

[Centrik]

6. The only question is....

Can we TRUST the Russians?

[leftyohiolib]

7. cant,, now that theyve been assimilated by our new alien overlords which i for one

welcome and will offer my services to help corral the humans.

[yurbud]

9. I wonder if those ice cores are older than the ones used to measure global warming...

and what they say about the trend.

[tech_smythe]

10. unlikely, the artic cores go back like 100 milllion years

this one is 'only' what... 20 million?

[DRoseDARs]

14. Er, try 740,000 years.

"Farthest-back" core sample, taken from Antartica
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Project_for_Ice_Coring_in_Antarctica

The continent-proper started icing over roughly 35mya.

[geckosfeet]

11. Very cool. Like a time machine.

Heart worthy.

[Lint Head]

12. The Thing!

[The Wizard]

13. Now we have to worry about

the Antarctic drilling gap.

[snooper2]

43. ROFL..

Yep, Now it's going to cause it to break in half

just like when you drill through an ice cube with a 1/16" bit

[eyewall]

15. They left two guys there to winter over so they could keep an eye on the hole.

really?
keep an eye on the hole
for nine months
in minus 100 degree temps

gotta be the worst job in the world.

[cherokeeprogressive]

17. Hey it was that or the salt mines. n/t

[Shankapotomus]

25. Yea, like people are just going to start

dropping by Antartica to have a look. But they are probably concerned some rogue scientist down there would contaminate the lake on purpose so they have to take precautions.

[Shankapotomus]

26. Btw, let's hope they don't

mistake the hole for the pit toilet in the dark. I can hear that discussion:

"Hey Tom, where did you dig the sanitation hole?"

"About 50 yards behind the tent. Why?"

"Uh-oh."

Wanna get away?

[progressoid]

32. Wonder if they'll catch anything?

[eyewall]

34. LOL!

[Uncle Joe]

35. I would throw this one back just for being so God awful ugly.

[snagglepuss]

41. Not if they really really like each other.

[boppers]

49. Brokeback... ice hole?

Wow, and that was unintentional.

[jwirr]

18. I would think that we would contaminate that lake a lot more than it would contaminate us. That

water has got to be much more pure than what we have now.

[Denninmi]

21. I just had a sad thought.

Somewhere out there, some corporate idiot is trying to figure out some way to tap this in the future for 'Vostock Brand Premium Antarctic Glacial Spring Water, Bottled at the Source for Quality and Purity".

[onlyadream]

27. I guess the Russians didn't want to wait

... For NASA to create the probe that wouldn't contaminate the lake... Stupid.

[Javaman]

28. In other news: new coke cola processing plant to open in Antartica. nt

[The Doctor.]

29. And thus began the zombie apocalypse.

Who knew that drilling would solve the human caused climate change issue?

[baldguy]

31. Let us hope they haven't disturbed The Great Old One, Mnomquah, Lord of the Black Lake.

[Evasporque]

33. from the "what could possibly go wrong?" department....

Zombie Apocalypse!!

[thelordofhell]

36. Coming soon........Vostok bottled water

Taste the refreshment 20 million years in the making

[aquart]

38. Or infect and kill all of us.

But why worry?

[Old Troop]

47. My concern is not what it will do to us, but

what we have done to it. We have contaminated a pristine remnant of the planet's earlier years.