Researchers recently discovered signs of life in the mud, which was raised from the bottom of a lake located in Antarctica. The surface of this lake is constantly covered with a dense layer of ice and therefore, scientists hope that studies are in private environment of microorganisms will help to understand how life develops in the most seemingly unsuitable conditions for this. Scientists in order to take clean samples of ancient microorganisms, drilled a hole with a depth of about 4 in the ice sheet of Hodgson Lake meters, the very bottom of the lake is at a depth of 93 meters. Today the lake has a thinner ice cover than, for example, about a hundred thousand years ago when it was literally buried under a 500 meter a block of ice. Scientists are sure that the deposits they study formed precisely in this “ice-sealed” period and consider that in the bottom sediment they will find a “life time capsule”, which more than one hundred thousand years. In addition, already discovered 20 cultures of living microbes in the upper layer of bottom sediment prove that life can exist in the most extreme conditions not only on our Earth, but also on other planets! Scientists also found fossilized DNA fragments of many other types of microbes, who also managed to adapt to the harsh climate of Antarctica. Understanding how microbes and other life forms exist in cold, dark, isolated, and nutrient poor environment, will help scientists not only solve the mystery of the origin of life on Earth, but also the possibility of its origin and development in other worlds, such as the icy satellite of Jupiter. 
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Inspired by this opportunity, scientists rush to get samples pristine environment from sealed 380 lakes located on Antarctic territories. Moreover, more recently, were discovered signs of bacterial life at the bottom of Whillans Lake, which is located 800 m below the level of the ice cover of West Antarctica. IN present Russian scientists in an effort to solve the mystery the beginnings of life are not far behind their British counterparts. They are busy a thorough analysis of water samples taken at the beginning of 2013 from the lake East, which is in a “sealed” state under 3 km of ice for over 14 million years. But back to the microorganisms, which were raised from the bottom of Hodgson Lake. During the study samples it turned out that almost a quarter of the identified genetic sequences do not match any genetic sequence known to modern science. it testifies to the diversity of unknown life forms hiding beneath the ice of Antarctic lakes and containing many secrets and new discoveries!
Translation by Sergey Vasilenkov
Antarctica DNA Time Life
