Worms from Hell? Deepest Multicellular Life Found | Subsurface Life | Search for Extraterrestrial Life | LiveScience
The nematode H. mephisto lives nearly a mile (1.3 km) underground in rock fractures near South African goldmines.
CREDIT: Property of the University Ghent, Belgium - Gaetan Borgonie
How low can worms go? According to a new study, at least 0.8 miles (1.3 kilometers) below the Earth's surface.
That's the depth at which scientists discovered a new species of worm, dubbed Halicephalobus mephisto in honor of Faust's demon Mephistopheles. The worm, reported this week in the journal Nature, is the deepest living multicellular organism ever found.
"We tried to get the title of the paper to be 'Worms from Hell,'" said study author Tullis Onstott of Princeton University. "But Nature didn't go for that." [...]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can follow LiveScience senior writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.
This is cool, but what I'm really waitin' for is a discovery of a place where there's nothing resembling life and never has been. Not gonna happen, but hey, it'll be fun watchin' the search. :)
Comments
Post a Comment