In southwestern Spain at the Iberian Pyrite Belt a life form called cyanobacteria was found. According to the article, cyanobacteria has been thriving 2,000 feet below our feet, where there’s no sunlight, water, or nutrients. Scientists and researchers thought that these microbes could only survive with the rays of the sun and have found them almost everywhere on earth. Now what exactly is cyanobacteria and what has it done for us? Cyanobacteria actually are responsible for getting oxygen into the atmosphere. These cyanobacteria microbes have been surviving by eating hydrogen gas which is a common source for microbes. However, cyanobacteria have been using this hydrogen gas in a different way. They have been doing it in a way similar to photosynthesis so they are able to produce and release small amounts of energy. Surface microbes are able to use the suns rays for this energy but subsurface microbes had to find a way to get this energy in another way considering they don’t have these suns rays. This finding of life 2,000 feet below the surface have Rose concerns about life on Mars. People are beginning to think of something could exist that low below us, what about things outside of our planet.
This is an absolutely fascinating revelation to come from scientists, as it completely changes our perspective on how life can live and thrive within our world. I wonder what historical event you could connect this to.
ReplyDelete