Living bacteria found in 600,000-year-old ice
Ancient bacteria that existed 600,000 years ago and found recently by scientists in ice cores reinforce the theory that similar life forms may be found alive on Mars or other frigid worlds.
The tough part is that in order to survive over the millennia, organisms have to keep some metabolism going to keep their DNA in repair until the environment is complementary to growth. Complete dormancy would cause DNA to be damaged and perhaps destroyed over such long periods of time.
"The colder you make the environment, the longer [DNA] survives," said study team member Thomas Gilbert of the University of Copenhagen. "In places like Mars and [Jupiter's moon] Europa, which are really, really cold, DNA may very well be surviving there for a hell of a long time."
