19,000-year-old biosphere with links to Mars discovered beneath desert
7 days ago
As the driest nonpolar desert in the world, the Atacama Desert in northern Chile is home to very few species of plants and animals. With rainfall often occurring only once a decade, the desert is so dry that NASA uses it as a stand-in for the Martian landscape. But what’s living beneath the parched surface? New research suggests it’s very small, abundant, and old, very old.
Category: Science
Tags: Bacteria, Micro-organisms, Mars