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See the original image at dailygalaxy.com —

Ancient Antarctic lake may hide life unseen for ages

dailygalaxy.com — Could ancient life be living today? Locked miles beneath the Antarctic surface, these lakes have not touched our atmosphere for millions of years. What will we find there?

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  • SilenceIsFoo, on 05/11/2008, -3/+18Waldo?
    • aenima987, on 05/11/2008, -1/+8Carmen Sandiego?
    • macweirdo42, on 05/11/2008, -2/+4If we find Waldo, we'll also find an ancient, undiscovered civilization of Antarctic people who all wear red and white striped shirts and hats.
  • DeskFlyer, on 05/11/2008, -2/+12Giant alien spacecraft?
    • acdcfanbill, on 05/11/2008, -0/+1I'm just glad Kurt Russell and Keith David are down there to kickass for us.
  • DiggLive, on 05/11/2008, -2/+15Xenu?
  • Blakechi, on 05/11/2008, -2/+6http://www.tinypineapple.com/gallery/spongebob_at_ ...
  • Orion1004, on 05/11/2008, -1/+8Maybe The Thing! Pretty exciting though...might give us a hint of what we'll find on Europa.
  • BoonTobias, on 05/11/2008, -5/+1lol science
  • screwy3333, on 05/11/2008, -2/+1we probably just need to use the Ganz Protocol to fix a direct image for ultimate viewing of the survival mutations....if they're present
  • StanleyKoolPrik, on 05/11/2008, -3/+1A Digg-mutant?
  • Eskapismus, on 05/11/2008, -1/+8Osama?
    • YuriSakazaki, on 05/11/2008, -1/+3This just in, $10 Billion in funding has just been sent to the Marines to declare war on these lakes in Antarctica.
  • scot333, on 05/11/2008, -3/+2I got a turtle head pokin out!
  • jinsing, on 05/11/2008, -0/+3It will be fascinating to see what kind of things are living there, although I am concerned that exposed to the air they'll most likely be destroyed. No matter how carefully you go about these things, opening up places that haven't been before generally just kills them.
  • Doomxeen, on 05/11/2008, -5/+1Jesusaurus.
  • bicyclethief, on 05/11/2008, -1/+2John Carpenter's The Thing.
  • BobbyMC, on 07/21/2008, -3/+2The remains of an ancient island that broke off from present day Tunisia and floated southward until it was eventually sealed under the ice of Antarctica. Features include disturbing four toed foot statue and plenty of polar bears.
  • arcticblue, on 05/11/2008, -2/+3This is very similar to an X-files episode (season 1) and it wasn't pretty. They drilled in the arctic only to awaken some worm thing that makes you go crazy.

    I wouldn't be surprised if there's some crazy ancient bacteria down there that we've never seen.
    • PhantomPhoenix, on 05/12/2008, -1/+1Thanks for the reference to a sci-fi television series; You just insulted every scientist working with this project.
  • tehjarvis, on 05/11/2008, -1/+2SNORKS
  • FKnight, on 05/11/2008, -1/+9The second stargate.
  • okiallday098, on 05/11/2008, -1/+5Cthulhu fhtagn.
  • trixterIreland, on 05/11/2008, -3/+3wouldnt it suck if there were viruses laying low, being dormant and all this digging and such just wakes them up, and causes them to be transported back to civilization where they spread and kill us all?

    This actually isnt as far fetched as it may seem, its known that some viruses do go dormant, ebola in ethopia is one example. When drought hits, it goes dormant, next rain its woken up and goes on a killing spree (ebola is not a morning person, when woken up it doesnt play well with others).

    Another poster commented on bacteria, which is also likely to exist, and some of it can be lethal.

    Lets hope that our respective governments know what they are doing, fortunately they have a really good track record for looking out for the people... oh wait, never mind.
  • phogasmic, on 05/11/2008, -1/+2Cloverfield!
  • veersite, on 05/11/2008, -1/+4I saw this episode of the X-Files. EVERYBODY PANIC!
  • Rosco, on 05/11/2008, -1/+1Duke Nukem Forever?
  • vfreak2, on 05/11/2008, -1/+1SCRAT!
  • hiscity, on 05/11/2008, -1/+3Q: "How?"

    A: Send a probe on a tether. Use a thermal engine to heat the exterior to melt though which then will refreeze on top of it, sealing the descent. The tether could feed out from the probe and contain power & data lines. The hotter it is, the faster the descent.

    If that works out. A bigger vessel could be sent for a robotic sub. The first probe should include underwater communications to track the later sub. Eventually, reheating the probe might allow samples to be retrieved. The main problem could be ice expansion and contraction putting stress on the tether.

    Seems like a much more worthwhile project than all the astronomy or high energy physics.
    • PhantomPhoenix, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Astronomy can save us from an asteroid or comet. What can exploring an old frozen lake do?
    • hiscity, on 05/14/2008, -0/+2That's like saying what can exploring space do?
      • PhantomPhoenix, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1We need to become a multiple-planet(or moon) species for our own survival.
  • StrangeBeast, on 05/11/2008, -1/+0Mmmmm…. Dinosaur Bacon.
  • GMills, on 05/11/2008, -0/+4This was a topic of an article on my SAT
  • mstrebe, on 05/11/2008, -1/+1Mom? Is that you?
  • liuite, on 05/11/2008, -0/+4one day scientists will discover that these lakes were the aquifers that supported life on Atlantis
    • PhantomPhoenix, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2Ah...the oldest conspiracy theory known to humanity.
  • cavie2002, on 05/11/2008, -1/+1dammit where is santa clause gonna hide now???
  • foresworn, on 05/12/2008, -1/+2I'm pretty sure HP Lovecraft covered what happens when you dig around in Antarctica...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_the_mountains_of_m ...

  • AnarchoGoth, on 05/12/2008, -1/+2A Virus that turns people into Zombies.

    Either that or Shoggoths.
  • AnarchoGoth, on 05/12/2008, -1/+1Scientists have made an amazing discovery in Antarctica.
    It could change the way we view the world and advance our technology a thousand years.

    But in that frozen lake alien germs have been festering for half a billion year.

    Only one man has the foresight and motivation to save the world.

    Coming the summer of 2009, Tony Shalhoub stars in Monk vs. The Thing.
  • PhantomPhoenix, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2This was mentioned in one of the readings on the most recent SAT...
  • MrESaulved, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Isn't there a massive under-ice volcano erupting right now in the Antarctic, and much of the melting of the area is due to it?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/world/21volcano. ...
  • P5ycHo, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1according to some religions , the maximum age in this article should be 3000 years old....

  • bloggeragent001, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1Yes Antarctica will is surely hiding many different types of ancient species of living beings.
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