According to Sci-News, an international team of researchers discovered this unprecedented life form 1.2 km below the seabed, as hot as 120 degrees Celsius. That is the Nankai Trough subduction zone off Cape Muroto, Japan.
Microscopic images show mysterious microorganisms in the sediment core – (Image: JAMSTEC/IODP).
Those are strange microorganisms , which have been brought up by using the Japanese super deep-sea ship Chinkyu to drill 1,180m deep into the seabed, picking up a hot sediment core. According to Dr. Fumio Inakagi from the Center for Research and Development of Ocean Drilling Science and the Kochi Institute for Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC – Japan), a member of the research team, the most surprising thing is the change of this group of microorganisms in the more “liveable” sediments of the drill core.
“The density of microorganisms decreases at a temperature of about 45 degrees Celsius,” said Dr. Inakagi.
Analysis at the cellular level shows that these microorganisms are still capable of “hibernating” as much as they want when their surroundings change in their favour, and then ” reviving” when things go wrong. should be more convenient. That helps them to be able to survive for a long time according to the Earth’s geological activity without becoming extinct like other organisms!
“At the lower boundary of the biosphere, the lethal limit co-exists with survival opportunities. We didn’t expect that,” the authors said. They also identified the “food” of these bacteria, which is organic material deposited in marine sediments.
The study, just published in the scientific journal Science , highlights that the discovery of this class of “hell” creatures is crucial to redirecting the hunt for alien life: there are clearly life forms that do not needs what we humans need to live, but prefers utopian conditions. If we only focus on planets with water and temperatures “suitable for life” as we previously believed, we might miss out on many interesting worlds.