Life Discovered Thriving in Trinidadian Lake of Hydrocarbons, Suggesting Titan Could Support Life
A stinking, poisonous lake filled with carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons might not seem like the kind of place for living things to thrive, but researchers have discovered life in Trinidad's Pitch Lake, a hot asphalt lake teeming with all kinds of noxious gases and containing very little water. But the discovery isn't just of interest to biologists; Pitch Lake is thought to be the closest thing we have on Earth to the hydrocarbon lakes on Saturn's Titan moon. And if microbial life can survive in Pitch Lake, it might be able to thrive on Titan's hostile surface. The tiny single-celled life forms in Pitch Lake are highly unique and very hardy, mostly archea and bacteria that can survive in an oxygen-free atmosphere. They feed off hydrocarbons, breathe metals and require very little water. Basically, they're unlike almost every other living thing on Earth (similar organisms have been found in subsea oil...