Extraterrestrial life gets invoked in some study or another every three months - astrobiology approaches astronomy levels of hype with its over-the-top claims about incremental studies.
But a rock wall in a South African mine near where "radiation eating microbes" were found a mile underground may be something else entirely.
Tullis Onstott of Princeton University opens a borehole in a section of rock wall in a South African mine near where "radiation eating microbes" were found. Credit: Lisa M. Pratt,The Trustees of Indiana University,NASA,National Science Foundation
Carl Pilcher, director of NASA’s Astrobiology Institute in California, said that the nematode discovery illustrates the usefulness of research on Earth for learning about possible extraterrestrial life.
“It is entirely plausible, in fact extremely likely, that subsurface environments like those described in these papers exist on other worlds in this solar system and in other planetary systems,” he said of the new work and Tullis Onstott’s earlier discoveries.
‘Worms from hell’ unearth possibilities for extraterrestrial life - Washington Post
