24/5/2020 11:40
The Australian discovery could also be important for Martian life.
Researchers at West Virginia University have discovered 830 million-year-old microorganisms in Australian rock salt. Minerals from central Australia were examined by experts under ultraviolet light to find gas bubbles, water droplets and life forms that appeared to be single-celled or algae.
The discovery proves that organisms in captivity in a saline environment can be maintained in a very good condition. Very good condition means that scientists say they can still live or revive.
We know that modern halophiles, bacteria, archaea, algae and fungi have defense mechanisms that can withstand extreme conditions.
– Sarah Schrader-Gomez noted, geology Author of research published in the journal.
These halophiles are salt-loving microbes capable of suspending their lives when the environment becomes too salty. However, the survival of microorganisms is not trivial, since the effect of background radiation on them should have been in any case during this time period.
So scientists hypothesize that ancient microbes continued to live in microscopic habitats that remained as inclusions in the mineral.
This discovery is also important for space research, since sedimentary rocks are formed in saline dried water not only on Earth but also on Mars, for example. If NASA is currently perseverance The rock samples collected by its orbit around Mars will one day be returned to our planet, and the presence of past life can be verified by a visual method similar to the one we use now.
(SciTechDailyAnd vice)
