Article brought to you by: Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
Worms from hell? Organisms found in deep subsurface biosphere
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
June 8th, 2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
June 8th, 2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
Scientists have discovered -- worms from hell. Well, maybe not, but it's still a highly significant discovery, as researchers have discovered the first multi-cellular life in the deep subsurface biosphere.
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Located in the deep subsurface biosphere, these nematode, including a new species known as Halicephalobus mephisto, are the deepest multi-cellular organisms found on Earth.Scientists previously thought complex life forms were impossible at that depth. More importantly, the findings give a different perspective on where life could exist in the universe, potentially miles beneath the surface of alien planets.
As reported in the Washington Post, "The two lead researchers, Gaetan Borgonie of the University of Ghent in Belgium and Tullis Onstott of Princeton University, said the discovery of creatures so far below ground, with nervous, digestive and reproductive systems, was akin to finding 'Moby Dick in Lake Ontario.'
"The find entirely changes how and where scientists believe multi-cellular life can exist. While nematoda are known to live on the ocean floor and as far at 10 to 20 feet beneath the ocean bed, this discovery puts them about a mile beneath the surface."
"We tried to get the title of the paper to be 'Worms from Hell,'" study author Tullis Onstott of Princeton University joked. The highly respected journal Nature passed on the idea.