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Lake VOSTOK update - Samples found to be lifeless
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Original Message
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American scientists disagree and call it "inconclusive"
[link to www.usnews.com]
The first samples from Lake Vostok, the subglacial Antarctic lake that had remained untouched for more than 15 million years, turned up a whole lot of nothing, according to an initial analysis by the Russian scientists who reached the lake. But that doesn't mean there isn't life that has developed in the lake, according to a prominent Antarctic scientist.
John Priscu, an American Antarctica researcher working to reach other subglacial lakes, says the fact that the Russians haven't found anything so far isn't surprising.
"It's based on ice found on their drill, so it's a very contaminated sample. Secondly, when you take liquid water and freeze it, there's a partitioning—99 percent of the impurities, including microorganisms, are not being incorporated into the ice," he says. "The verdict is still out. We really need to go into the lake and sample it properly with sterile instruments."
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