'Goldilocks Zone' may go colder than previously thought
Tuesday, April 20, 2010 - 07:07
in Earth & Climate
(PhysOrg.com) -- The survival of life on Earth is possible only within a relatively narrow temperature range known as the "Goldilocks Zone," which ranges from around 0 to 100°C. In many ecosystems life is limited by cold temperatures rather than hot because of the reliance on liquid water for survival. Now new research has shown that in the presence of a certain type of solution, large populations of microbes can survive at the incredibly low temperature of -80°C, which is far below the accepted Goldilocks Zone. Since similar solutions exit on cold planets and moons such as Mars and Europa, this increases the likelihood that life may be found there.