Explorers Found Mysterious Life in Antarctica’s Icy Depths

Bright Side

Explorers found something incredible deep beneath Antarctica’s icy waters—mysterious life thriving where no one expected! 🧊🌊 Hidden under a thick sheet of ice, strange creatures like sponges and unknown organisms were discovered clinging to a boulder. Scientists were baffled because these life forms shouldn’t be able to survive in such extreme conditions, with no sunlight and barely any food. This discovery is rewriting what we know about life in the harshest places on Earth—and maybe even other planets! 🌍🚀 If creatures can survive in Antarctica’s frozen depths, who knows what we might find in the icy oceans of moons like Europa? Nature always finds a way, and this time, it left us speechless!  Credit: They Live / Alive Films and co-producer The Thing / Morgan Creek Entertainment and co-producers CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/: Taylor Glacier: by Eli Duke, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taylor_Glacier,_Antarctica_2.jpg ground-penetrating radar: by The Official CTBTO Photostream, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Using_ground-penetrating_radar_-_Flickr_-_The_Official_CTBTO_Photostream.jpg, https://flic.kr/p/6PhY9a ground-penetrating radar: by The Official CTBTO Photostream, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Using_ground-penetrating_radar_equipment_(15871113196).jpg, https://flic.kr/p/qbtB1G ground-penetrating radar: by The Official CTBTO Photostream, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Using_ground-penetrating_radar_equipment_(15894930731).jpg, https://flic.kr/p/qdzF8R CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/: Cryptoendolith: by Guillaume Dargaud http://www.gdargaud.net/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cryptoendolith.jpg Acidimicrobium ferrooxidans: by Manfred Rohde, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Acidimicrobium_ferrooxidans.jpg Westküste von Great Bernera II: by GerritR, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gneis_mit_kleinr%C3%A4umigen_Verformungen,_Westk%C3%BCste_von_Great_Bernera_II.jpg About Europa: by NASA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:What_You_Need_to_Know_About_Europa.webm, https://europa.nasa.gov/why-europa/overview/ Animation is created by Bright Side. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV   Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightside Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en Telegram: https://t.me/bright_side_official   Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

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00:00Consider Lake Enigma. What a fitting name. It's already strange enough because it's

00:06not even supposed to exist. But now, we stumbled upon actual life deep beneath it. And this

00:13just might help NASA in their search for life in outer space.

00:17The lake lies deep in the icy heart of Antarctica, so it's not really a water pool like we're

00:23used to. More like a lake-like block of ice. Or so we thought.

00:29Just recently, Italian scientists discovered a secret that had been buried for ages – an

00:34actual body of water. And in this water, life is thriving. Various microorganisms, and even

00:41some weird little hunters. Which is super weird, since Enigma sits in a remote and harsh

00:47corner of our planet – the northern Victoria land in Antarctica.

00:52The entire South Pole is cold, but in this place, temperatures can plummet to a horrifying

00:59minus 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Though on average, it's around 7. Brr, shitty!

01:06Like we said, this lake shouldn't even be there at all. Antarctica is technically the

01:11largest desert on Earth, even though it's covered in snow, because it's super dry.

01:17There are zero rains, truly little snowfall, and the sun barely evaporates anything. And

01:23even if there is some water, the insane winds make sure to dry everything out super quickly.

01:29Putting on our thinking caps, this lake should lose an unimaginable 7 million cubic feet

01:35of water every year. Yet the water remains. Why? No one knows.

01:42Scientists say there could be something deep underground that refills it constantly. They

01:46just have no idea what that might be. Maybe deep underground rivers, melting ice,

01:53or something else entirely. But hence the name – the Enigma Lake.

01:58The block of ice we mentioned is permanent and super thick – at least 36 feet of it,

02:04and that's higher than a three-story building. So researchers decided to check out if there's

02:08anything beneath it. They used a so-called ground-penetrating radar, a super-smart echo

02:14detector for the ground. This radar sends invisible radio waves into the Earth. When

02:20they hit something underground, like rocks, water, or anything else, they bounce back

02:25to the device. By measuring how long it takes for the signal to return and how strong they

02:31are, we can determine the distance and what exactly the radar hit. That's how animals

02:37like bats, whales, and dolphins can see underwater. And we humans stole this cool nature idea

02:43to research buried structures and hidden caves.

02:47Scientists used this device all over the Enigma surface. This way, they were able to

02:51create an entire map of this under-ice world beneath. The water itself wasn't surprising

02:57– it's the unique ecosystem in it that shocked them.

03:02Unfortunately, no secret monsters or extraterrestrial secrets this time. But there are microorganisms

03:09there that may not exist anywhere else on Earth. Somehow, these creatures have managed

03:15to survive in complete isolation and extreme cold. It's not that we don't know these

03:21microorganisms – we've met them before – just not exactly like this. There are

03:26a couple groups hanging out down there. The first one is Bacteroidota. They love breaking

03:32down complex molecules, especially in your stomach, and help digest tough plant fibers.

03:38They mostly hang out inside us. But in the outside world, we might occasionally find

03:43them in soils and oceans. Then Actinobacterioda. Genius chemists among bacteria. They decompose

03:51organic materials and help the soil get healthier. They're also famous for producing antibiotics,

03:57so we owe a lot of our medicine to them. The third one is Pseudomonadota. These guys

04:03weren't a surprise – they're crazy adaptable. They can thrive pretty much anywhere, from

04:08soil to water to the human body. Some of them are good, helping plants grow and in

04:14nutrient cycles, but others can be opportunistic pathogens. Ooh, bad guys.

04:20But what is actually a surprise is that Lake Enigma has tons of Passive Bacteria. They're

04:27ultra-small even for microorganisms and can barely do anything themselves. So they prefer

04:33to live in symbiosis or be little parasites, relying on their hosts for nutrients and other

04:38necessities. All these little chompers might be ancient. They could be remnants of a time

04:44before the lake froze over completely, which is hundreds of thousands of years ago.

04:49It's simply weird to encounter these bacteria in the Enigma Lake, especially the little

04:54parasites. Patissa bacteria usually love low-oxygen environments, but this lake is very oxygen-rich,

05:02not even mentioning an almost 40 feet of ice above.

05:06So all this means that even though we know who these guys are, this specific species

05:11might be new to us. They could've evolved with some unique adaptations and abilities

05:16using the lake's unusual chemistry. They probably rely on a super-simple and delicate

05:22food web. Some of the microorganisms produce energy from light, well, whatever light gets

05:28down there, or the lake's chemicals. The symbiosis guys most likely survive by living

05:34on or inside their neighbors. Yep, these microscopic creatures hunt each other. Nope, things can't

05:41be peaceful even in a place like that. If we find out what their secretive survival

05:47is, we might learn more about chemistry, medicine, and even extraterrestrial life. Because if

05:54life can endure such extreme conditions, then it can probably appear pretty much anywhere.

06:01Including our closest neighbors, Europa or Enceladus, the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

06:06They definitely hide oceans beneath their frozen surfaces, and now there's a very

06:11high chance there might be some life there. Antarctica must be the closest thing we have

06:17to extraterrestrial exploration before we actually land on other planets. It's full

06:23of hidden mysteries and surprising creatures. Even outside of Lake Enigma, the South Pole

06:29harbors life. Just take the McMurdo Dry Valleys, which are

06:33often referred to as Earthly Mars. These are among the most mysterious and extreme places

06:39on our planet. They're stretching across Victoria Land in Antarctica, and this is one

06:45of the driest places on Earth. Makes sense, if you remember the name. Surprisingly, unlike

06:51other parts of the South Pole, this land is almost entirely devoid of snow and ice.

06:57Just lots of super-cold ground. There might even be some sand dunes nestled here and there

07:02between the rugged mountains. The ground is mostly covered in loose gravel, scattered

07:07with ancient rocks made of granite, and something interesting called gneiss, just spelled differently.

07:14It's the type of rock that's been through a lot, literally. It's usually born when

07:18granite and sedimentary rocks have to endure insane pressure or horrifying heat for a while,

07:25a process called metamorphism. These conditions are so intense that they literally rearrange

07:31the minerals into layers. That's why gneiss has such beautiful foliated looks. It's

07:37the planet's version of baking a layered cake. It's amazing because this place is

07:42almost exactly the way it was millions of years ago. These valleys are frozen in time,

07:48and they give us a little glimpse into Earth's distant past. And that includes life. Once

07:54again, local winds are absolutely terrifying gusts of cold air racing downhill, and they

08:00evaporate snow faster than it can even melt. So, logically, you shouldn't find much water

08:06here, not even mentioning life. But somehow, you can still stumble across frozen lakes

08:13and saline ponds in the dry valleys. And local life stretches all reason and our understanding

08:19of biology. It exists inside the rocks themselves. Microorganisms are hidden in slightly moist

08:27cracks and crevices. Deep inside, there's endolithic bacteria. These guys are super

08:33chill. Instead of moving around like other microorganisms, they always stay put inside

08:38their little rocky homes. How do they survive? Through photosynthesis. Just like plants,

08:45they take teeny tiny parts of light that gets in crevices and acts like little solar panels,

08:51getting energy from the sun. Meanwhile, in another place, beneath the Taylor

08:56Glacier, there's bacteria that literally doesn't eat anything. Not comfort, not sunlight,

09:02not even oxygen. These guys rely on a diet of dusty rocks and sulfur to fuel their weird

09:08metabolisms. By breaking down sulfur and iron, they get energy to sustain themselves.

09:15This way, they easily survive in deep seas, at sub-freezing temperatures, completely cut

09:20off from sunlight, oxygen, and the world itself. This place is fascinating for both its life

09:27and the lack of it. In some parts of the valleys, like University Valley, the permafrost is

09:34so harsh that no microbes were found at all. This might be one of the only places on Earth

09:41where life appears to be completely absent. A quite scary idea.

09:46Anyway, now scientists are thinking about learning more about Lake Enigma and drilling

09:51this Mars-like environment. Exactly for that reason. To see how we could get samples from

09:57Mars in the future. That's it for today, so hey, if you pacified

10:02your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends. Or, if you

10:06want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!

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