We like to reckon that life always get hold a way to survive , and that the cosmos of species that can withstand awful weather is proof of this resiliency . But once in a while , we have to present the fact that some environs are just too extreme for life sentence to flourish .
One of these surroundings has been encounter in Antartica , a neighborhood call University Valley . It is highly ironic , exceptionally cold , and has a layer of permafrost ( frozen soil ) that has not changed for the last 150,000 years – condition that resemble Mars , where we are hope to one day find aliveness . researcher looked for the comportment of bacteria in the soil , and came back empty - handed .
“ Going into the written report , we were sure that we would detect a functioning and practicable microbial ecosystem in the permafrost soils of University Valley as we and others have done in Arctic and Antarctic permafrost , admit in other website at lower elevations in Antarctica , ” Lyle Whyte , co - author of the sketch , said in astatement . “ It is hard for both of us to trust that we may have pass on a cold and waterless verge where even microbic life can not actively subsist . ”
The site was chosen to quiz a NASAASTEP(Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets ) project called IceBite , a drill designed to perforate the frozen soil of the Martian diametric regions . University Valley is trust to resemble the condition of Mars ' northern polar region .
The squad from McGill University analyzed the sample at the bottom of the boreholes . They looked for evidence of molecules produced by organic matter such as methane and atomic number 6 dioxide , traces of desoxyribonucleic acid , and they even tried to accelerate microbial growing . They did not find any indications that living organisms were present .
The research has implications for finding life on Mars . NASA
Jackie Goordial , the lead author of the research , said : “ We do n’t know if there is bodily function beyond our point of accumulation of detection . All we can say for certain is that after using all the current method of test usable to us , the samples are unlike any other permafrost we have encountered to appointment on Earth . ”
“ If conditions are too moth-eaten and juiceless to support fighting microbic life on an analogous clime on Earth , then the colder , drier conditions in the near - Earth’s surface permafrost on Mars are unbelievable to contain lifetime , ” add Whyte . “ to boot , if we can not detect bodily process on Earth , in an environs which is teeming with microorganisms , it will be extremely unlikely and hard to observe such action on Mars . ”
The results were published inThe International Society for Microbial Ecology Journal .
