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Frozen DNA Survives After 8 Million Years
Microorganisms from Antarctica look like Martian data
By Jonas Oransky
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Posted Aug 7, 07 9:15 PM CDT
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(Newser)
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Scientists have nixed the notion that glaciers are lifeless blocks of ice by thawing chunks containing Antarctic organisms and watching them successfully divide on their own, the Los Angeles Times reports. The study suggests that these microorganisms, ranging from 100,000 to 8 million years old, could yield DNA and spark an entirely new phase of bacterial evolution if warming continues to melt the glaciers.
The life forms in these "gene popsicles" bear a strong resemblance to data hauled back from Mars, scientists say, and may have landed on Earth riding a comet. But researchers are also aware that the DNA degrades, due mostly to cosmic radiation, and with a half-life of 1.1 million years, could be contaminated.