Perhaps. If it does, it probably couldn't be past a certain depth. The deepest man-made hole was about 12km, and reached roughly 180C at that depth. That's well beyond what even the most durable hyperthermophile organisms can withstand, to speak nothing of what the pressure would be like at greater depths.
> 180C at that depth. That's well beyond what even the most durable hyperthermophile organisms can withstand
How about the organisms living in or around the hydrothermal vents in the mid-ocean ridges?
If there is life on Mars, it will be deep underground! Do we know anything about the occasional Methane emissions I heard about on Mars?
There are areas on Mars where we strongly believe brine is right below the surface, so there could be life underground but it may not all be that deep. Edit: found it: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia10911-ice-on-mars-now-its... There have been cases where we believe we've seen ice form in rover tracks, hinting at water just below the surface.
This is incredibly exciting! I had no idea that we have photo evidence of ice on Mars. Thank you for sharing this!
Update: It’s so hard to believe that this was captured in 2008!
> The major categories of visible life on Earth have been pretty much settled for centuries. But it wasn’t until the 1980s that scientists found “intraterrestrials” — microscopic organisms living in what the biogeochemist David Valentine calls a “microbial purgatory deep below the Earth’s surface."
Does anyone know the paper(s) from the 1980s where the discovery was published?
> The major categories of visible life on Earth have been pretty much settled for centuries. But it wasn’t until the 1980s that scientists found “intraterrestrials” — microscopic organisms living in what the biogeochemist David Valentine calls a “microbial purgatory deep below the Earth’s surface." Does anyone know the paper(s) from the 1980s where the discovery was published?
Here's a survey article from the late 80s which should have a rich references section for you:
I think there are two strands: petroleum companies have long been interested in any connection between deep biology and oil; and I think around that time people found microbes in a few sterile-seeming aquifers.
Every time we assume a limitation like this we've been wrong. If tardigrades can survive floating through space, I think it's reasonable to guess that there might be life that survives at the other extreme.
Where do you draw the line for the other "extreme"? Assuming carbon based life as we know it, 300-400C is the probably a hard limit at which point single carbon bonds begin to break down. Assuming life on earth as we know it, with ATP universally conserved across the entire evolutionary tree, the limit is really 150C. We've seen incredible survival adaptations like cryptobiosis but no organism exists that doesn't use…
I don't see why there could't be stabilizing adaptations for phosphate groups, or evolution of alternatives like phosphonates, thiophosphate or imidophosphate. Evolving stable enzymes that still have catalytic activity is also a big lift, but life consistently surprises us.
Every time we assume a limitation like this we've been wrong. If tardigrades can survive floating through space, I think it's reasonable to guess that there might be life that survives at the other extreme.
Where do you draw the line for the other "extreme"? Assuming carbon based life as we know it, 300-400C is the probably a hard limit at which point single carbon bonds begin to break down. Assuming life on earth as we know it, with ATP universally conserved across the entire evolutionary tree, the limit is really 150C. We've seen incredible survival adaptations like cryptobiosis but no organism exists that doesn't use…
> The major categories of visible life on Earth have been pretty much settled for centuries. But it wasn’t until the 1980s that scientists found “intraterrestrials” — microscopic organisms living in what the biogeochemist David Valentine calls a “microbial purgatory deep below the Earth’s surface." Does anyone know the paper(s) from the 1980s where the discovery was published?
Here's a survey article from the late 80s which should have a rich references section for you: Ghiorse & Wilson, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2164(08)70206-5 I think there are two strands: petroleum companies have long been interested in any connection between deep biology and oil; and I think around that time people found microbes in a few sterile-seeming aquifers.