Life In and Under the Antarctic Ice Sheets

Abstract The discovery of viable microbial life in ancient glacial ice has opened up a plethora of questions related to how life can be sustained in such extreme environments. Cryo-microscopic analysis of lab prepared ice samples indicates that microbes are located in the small veins of water that e...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Microscopy Today
Main Authors: Doyle, Shawn, Amato, Pierre, Christner, Brent
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Oxford University Press (OUP) 2008
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1551929500059186
https://academic.oup.com/mt/article-pdf/16/3/6/48511488/mt0006.pdf
Description
Summary:Abstract The discovery of viable microbial life in ancient glacial ice has opened up a plethora of questions related to how life can be sustained in such extreme environments. Cryo-microscopic analysis of lab prepared ice samples indicates that microbes are located in the small veins of water that exist between individual ice crystals. Crucial to these studies is to obtain an understanding of the physicochemical habitat for life through physiological and microscopic analysis.