Secret Lagoon Found Resembling Earth 3.5 BIllion Years Ago and What Life on Mars Would Look Like (colorado.edu) 33
A system of lagoons has been discovered in Argentina hosting a rare range of microbial communities previously unknown to scientists. The microbial communities form giant mounds of rock as they grow — like corals building a reef millimeter by millimeter. And the University of Colorado points out that "the communities could also provide scientists with an unprecedented look at how life may have arisen on Mars, which resembled Earth billions of years ago."
"If life ever evolved on Mars to the level of fossils, it would have been like this," said geologist Brian Hynek, a professor in the department of geological sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, who helped document the ecosystem. "Understanding these modern communities on Earth could inform us about what we should look for as we search for similar features in the Martian rocks."
more details from CNN: Stromatolites are layered rocks created by the growth of blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, through photosynthesis. The structures are considered to be one of the oldest ecosystems on Earth, according to NASA, representing the earliest fossil evidence for life on our planet from at least 3.5 billion years ago. "These are certainly akin to some of the earliest macrofossils on our planet, and in really a rare type of environment on modern Earth," said Hynek...
While the stromatolites are in an environment containing oxygen, Hynek said he believes the layers farther down in the rock have little to no access to oxygen and are actively formed by microbes using anoxygenic photosynthesis. This would make the structures similar to the ones found on ancient Earth... "We've identified more than 600 ancient lakes on Mars; there may have even been an ocean. So, it was a lot more Earth-like early on," he said.
"If life ever evolved on Mars to the level of fossils, it would have been like this," said geologist Brian Hynek, a professor in the department of geological sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, who helped document the ecosystem. "Understanding these modern communities on Earth could inform us about what we should look for as we search for similar features in the Martian rocks."
more details from CNN: Stromatolites are layered rocks created by the growth of blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, through photosynthesis. The structures are considered to be one of the oldest ecosystems on Earth, according to NASA, representing the earliest fossil evidence for life on our planet from at least 3.5 billion years ago. "These are certainly akin to some of the earliest macrofossils on our planet, and in really a rare type of environment on modern Earth," said Hynek...
While the stromatolites are in an environment containing oxygen, Hynek said he believes the layers farther down in the rock have little to no access to oxygen and are actively formed by microbes using anoxygenic photosynthesis. This would make the structures similar to the ones found on ancient Earth... "We've identified more than 600 ancient lakes on Mars; there may have even been an ocean. So, it was a lot more Earth-like early on," he said.
Earth holds3.5BYearOld Pool Party, Mars Crashes It (Score:5, Funny)
Milei's origin (Score:2)
Hey, perhaps we can have a study to check if Javier Milei originates from this pond ? :)
Priorities (Score:5, Insightful)
>The scientists, however, may be running out of time. A company from outside Argentina has already leased the area to mine for lithium. Once drilling begins, the Atacama lagoons could be irreversibly transformed.
I know we need lithium as our current best shot at convenient portable energy storage to displace fossil fuel use... but there are enough available lithium sources that this one should be skipped.
Destroying what may be a unique and scientifically valuable biome for temporary profit is... OK, human, and almost certainly what will happen here. But very regrettable and if anything can be done to stop it from being inevitable it should be done.
Re:Priorities (Score:5, Insightful)
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Oh, now that big media knows about it, it’ll get trampled by tik-tokkers, social media infleuncers and run-of-the-mill vandals long before the mining companies ruin it.
All of the tik-tokkers rushing there to "try this one weird trick to lose weight and reverse diabetes"...
Re: What we actually "know". (Score:1)
We also know that rare earth metals are rare...
Written by a drooling idiot - or AI managed by a drooling idiot.
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Trains have a very serious issue in that they can only go to pre-determined spots along pre-determined routes. If you need to go somewhere else, ANYWHERE else, and Dog forbid multiple spots in the same day, you're going to have a really bad time if the trains were not pre-determined to make that specific scenario possible.
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The point is we do need to be able to travel, as you experienced on that very same trip. Trains are not the be-all, end-all solution the guy I replied to is trying to make them sound like.
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I suspect the idiot you replied to was just being rabidly anti-change and nowhere near bright enough to bring about a cogent argument to defend the position.
That's the most likely scenario. Less likely is they were actually trolling because that's supposedly funny somehow, if you're 12 and socially awkward.
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When I saw this post, the first thing I thought was - how long will it take for humanity to fsck this discovery.
Blue Lagoon (Score:3)
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Did they also find a young Brooke Shields there?
Wow. That's reaching back into the archives. Youngins won't have any clue what you're talking about.
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Nah they found Kathy Troutt instead.
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Well done.
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No, Blue Lagoon is a thermal spa/resort in Iceland -- and it's currently not the best time for a visit, even though they just re-opened.
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Re: Two questions on the meaning of words (Score:4, Informative)
Its secret because the researchers didnt know about it. The locals have probably known about it forever. It's a bit like the "new" world - not so new to the natives whod been there a 50 thousand years already.
Life Doesn't Evolve. (Score:1)
It is created. Stupid bunch of idiots. Learn Physics.
Promoting lies to make your wallet fat is heresy.
Secret?! (Score:2)
Life on Mars (Score:2)
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It's the anti-intellectual attitude that bothers me more. You're here on Slashdot, discussing science... and your attitude is "stop talking about, stop investigating, we already know everything".
On a 'news for nerds' site, that attitude should get you permanently booted.
Pick apart the article, point out why it isn't news, why the summary is mislead, etc., those are all reasonable responses. "Blah blah blah, science is pointless" is not.
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Fortunately they also linked to the ArXiv paper, so I could actually find out what is "dramatically interesting" about this. But I've got billion-year old stromatolite fossils in my rock pile, and I'm not particularly excited by news of yet another present-day stromatolite discovery. To D/L and read, or not to read ...
Slightly more interesting is why this was put out on ArXiv, instead of one
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Oh well, ploughing through the WOMBAT of the press release ...
Ah, there is no paper. It's a report of a poster presentation [confex.com] at the AGU meeting in early December. All perfectly respectable, but it's thin gruel to be shouting "origins of life!" over.
Nice new stromatolite site, but a hypersaline lagoon is nothing new in the range of environments known for forming stromatolites. I'm pretty sur