After three years of trips into the mines, after analyzing 200 samples of scalding water that had lain undisturbed for eons, they have succeeded. Among the finds, reported this fall in the journal Science: a skinny, tube-shaped bacteria that feeds off low levels of radiation in the surrounding rock. The species apparently has been humming along in the darkness for millions of years, challenging some of our basic notions of life and suggesting how life might exist on other planets. The as-yet-unnamed organism does not depend - even indirectly - on energy from the sun, according to the team of authors, from Princeton University and a half-dozen other institutions. The bacteria research is a signature study in the field of astrobiology, an interdisciplinary field that examines how life evolved on Earth, and how it might do so on other planets.
Science is one of my favorite subjects, as it seems new discoveries are being made every day. What an exciting field to be in.
