Saturday, February 20, 2016

Earth is Bleeding

Considering the abuse the planet has endured it would come as no surprise if it suddenly shot arterial spray into the atmosphere but that hasn't happened quite yet. The bleeding I refer to is a different sort and is known as Blood Falls in Antarctica. Oddly enough instead of being a cause for alarm the blood is a sign of life. The briny iron rich liquid comes from a salty lake 1,300 feet below the ice where a bacteria colony lives on sulfur and iron. Normally sunlight would be needed to complete the oxidation but instead the energy is obtained from a reaction of the sulfur and iron. Scientists figure the colony to be around 1.5 million years old and are optimistic that it is a sign that life exists on ice caps in other parts of the universe.
Blood Falls


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