Life in unlikely places

I get a daily update from Reasons to be Hopeful. If you don’t, you should! The blogger is a reporter who got fed up with the endless bad news, and has vowed to post a GOOD NEWS story each day for a year. I hope she decides to keep on going - because the world needs all the good news we can get.

Anyway - the link is to this fascinating article about a huge hidden biomass living deep below the oceans. That’s right, actually underground, under the ocean! It seems as if the rocks 1.6 km beneath the ocean may be teeming with life. Single celled creatures called prokaryotes were found in mud cores. Depending on the depth, 1 in 20 to 1 in 10 were actually dividing - reproducing. Even more interestingly, they could be over 110 years old! The scientists think this research will shed light on the possibility of life in even more unlikely places, like for instance, other planets. (Planet, Shmanet, Janet!)

Speaking of old, did you know the order to create an official Memorial Day was signed in 1868? Nerd that I am, I was thrilled to get to spend about half a day yesterday in the library in town doing research on some different things for my Ask Me Anything blog and along the way I looked up Memorial Day, too.

Have a great holiday weekend!

Summer Fey Foovay

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