4 ms·

‘Hidden world’ of marine life discovered in Antarctic ‘river’ under ice

74 points by agomez314 4y ago

Dr_Birdbrain 4y ago
The article mentions it’s a freshwater environment. Are they going to get wiped out if the ice melts enough to expose them to salt water?
- woleium 4y ago
  Yep, nature is metal, etc. etc.
- mftb 4y ago
  The original research appears to have been climate related, but they drilled through 500 meters of ice to get to the "river" and there's no mention in the article of this area melting like that.
- pvaldes 4y ago
  They are amphipods. A funny challenge to identify. The guys had tried each design available to make a pincer robot. You can find dozens of species populating each sea bottom from beaches to abyss and each freshwater body of water or marsh. Most probably they would be able to deal with salt or migrate up leaving the more salty layers of water. They are the arthropod equivalent to kangaroos and can live also out of the water for a while. What would be really interesting is the list of species present, that can bring some nice things. My bet would be that the community will be just an extension of the marine ecosystems near, with mostly the same species, maybe with a nice set of new microbes. Maybe similar to glacier communities and probably communicated with the sea in some way. But a new ecosystem in the planet is a really exciting thing.
  - DFHippie 4y ago
    > The guys had tried each design available to make a pincer robot. You can find dozens of species populating each sea bottom from beaches to abyss and each freshwater body of water or marsh. This is a linguistic observation and completely beside the point, but there's an interesting difference between each and every: each implicitly involves a set of specific things, things individually identifiable in some context. If you say "each person has two parents" the hearer will assume you're already talking about some set of individuals, the ones in the room, say. If you say "every person has two parents" they will think you are making a generalization about people, including hypothetical people who have not been born, ancient people who left no trace in history, and so forth.
    - jjulius 4y ago
      >If you say "every person has two parents" they will think you are making a generalization about people, including hypothetical people who have not been born, ancient people who left no trace in history, and so forth. Sure, until you use the phrase, "every person in this room has two parents".
deleted 4y ago
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mLuby 4y ago
Europa beckons, and maybe Titan too.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- pvg 4y ago
  Europa beckons Specifically says to attempt no landing there.
pvaldes 4y ago
Still no trilobites. Lets keep searching. "amphipods are from the same lineage of lobsters and mites" Yup, the poor arachnids, always mitesunderstood "This crustaceans are in the same family as lobsters and acari"! (Newsweek). "Scientifics are stunned!" (The Mirror. Stoned) (Sacre Bleu! We found again the most common type of animal inhabiting in the antarctic waters. Present in large amounts in all the water samples that we studied since pre-school age. Who would predict its presence here also?!)
chiefalchemist 4y ago
But...couldn't one of these isolated ecosystems contain what could end up being a highly invasive life form, bacteria, and/or virus?
- pvaldes 4y ago
  Unlikely. As a general rule, viruses in antarctic waters are much safer for humans than those living at equator.
Areibman 4y ago
Here's a fantastic video overview of subglacial lakes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgKUomZz-t0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgKUomZz-t0

74 points by agomez314 4y ago

The article mentions it’s a freshwater environment. Are they going to get wiped out if the ice melts enough to expose them to salt water?

woleium 4y ago
Yep, nature is metal, etc. etc.
mftb 4y ago
The original research appears to have been climate related, but they drilled through 500 meters of ice to get to the "river" and there's no mention in the article of this area melting like that.
pvaldes 4y ago
They are amphipods. A funny challenge to identify. The guys had tried each design available to make a pincer robot. You can find dozens of species populating each sea bottom from beaches to abyss and each freshwater body of water or marsh. Most probably they would be able to deal with salt or migrate up leaving the more salty layers of water. They are the arthropod equivalent to kangaroos and can live also out of the water for a while. What would be really interesting is the list of species present, that can bring some nice things. My bet would be that the community will be just an extension of the marine ecosystems near, with mostly the same species, maybe with a nice set of new microbes. Maybe similar to glacier communities and probably communicated with the sea in some way. But a new ecosystem in the planet is a really exciting thing.
- DFHippie 4y ago
  > The guys had tried each design available to make a pincer robot. You can find dozens of species populating each sea bottom from beaches to abyss and each freshwater body of water or marsh. This is a linguistic observation and completely beside the point, but there's an interesting difference between each and every: each implicitly involves a set of specific things, things individually identifiable in some context. If you say "each person has two parents" the hearer will assume you're already talking about some set of individuals, the ones in the room, say. If you say "every person has two parents" they will think you are making a generalization about people, including hypothetical people who have not been born, ancient people who left no trace in history, and so forth.
  - jjulius 4y ago
    >If you say "every person has two parents" they will think you are making a generalization about people, including hypothetical people who have not been born, ancient people who left no trace in history, and so forth. Sure, until you use the phrase, "every person in this room has two parents".

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

mLuby 4y ago

Europa beckons, and maybe Titan too.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
pvg 4y ago
Europa beckons Specifically says to attempt no landing there.

pvaldes 4y ago

Still no trilobites. Lets keep searching. "amphipods are from the same lineage of lobsters and mites" Yup, the poor arachnids, always mitesunderstood "This crustaceans are in the same family as lobsters and acari"! (Newsweek). "Scientifics are stunned!" (The Mirror. Stoned) (Sacre Bleu! We found again the most common type of animal inhabiting in the antarctic waters. Present in large amounts in all the water samples that we studied since pre-school age. Who would predict its presence here also?!)

chiefalchemist 4y ago

But...couldn't one of these isolated ecosystems contain what could end up being a highly invasive life form, bacteria, and/or virus?

pvaldes 4y ago
Unlikely. As a general rule, viruses in antarctic waters are much safer for humans than those living at equator.

Areibman 4y ago

Here's a fantastic video overview of subglacial lakes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgKUomZz-t0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgKUomZz-t0