Massimo Boston@massimo_boston

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Lake Vostok and Antarctica's hidden lakes

There's a whole network of lakes tucked under Antarctica's ice sheets, and some sit several kilometers down. Lake Vostok is the big one people point to, sealed off from any contact with the air above for millions of years. What makes it more than a curiosity is that signs of microbial life have turned up in Antarctic subglacial environments, which pushes the question of how anything gets by without sunlight. From there the thinking stretches outward: these ecosystems might hint at what could survive under the frozen shells of Europa and Enceladus. Still leaves the obvious one hanging, what else is down there waiting to be found

1h

Massimo Boston@massimo_boston

Follow

Lake Vostok and Antarctica's hidden lakes

There's a whole network of lakes tucked under Antarctica's ice sheets, and some sit several kilometers down. Lake Vostok is the big one people point to, sealed off from any contact with the air above for millions of years. What makes it more than a curiosity is that signs of microbial life have turned up in Antarctic subglacial environments, which pushes the question of how anything gets by without sunlight. From there the thinking stretches outward: these ecosystems might hint at what could survive under the frozen shells of Europa and Enceladus. Still leaves the obvious one hanging, what else is down there waiting to be found

1h