Ancient life in Lake Vostok? == 

 Back in 2003 I watched a Russian TV program, in which they interviewed two eminent geographers, Andrei Kapitsa (Pyotr Kapitsa's son) and Alexei Zotikov, who predicted the lake's existence and conducted its first measurements. 

 The lake was first spied by Soviet pilots back in 1950s but the definitive study of the lake's  
 dimensions was carried on by Kapitsa and Zotikov 20 years later. It is thought that the lake's surface was covered with ice 5 to 30 mln years ago. For all these years, the lake water didn't contact with atmosphere, therefore it contains the purest freshwater on Earth, free of any contaminants. It was demonstrated that the lake freshwater absorbs huge quanitities of oxygen from the snow shield above it. The water is unusually warm, probably a little below 0C, compared with -55C at the surface. The melting snow contains enough mineral substance to sustain certain forms of life.  

 While most of the geographers believe that the ancient life must be present in the form of bacteria, others point out that larger forms of life are not impossible too. According to them, the lake is situated in the region of high seismic activity, where hot thermal springs and  
 oil are fairly common. The Russian scientists drained the tunnel to 3623 metres below the ice surface. They stopped 130 metres from the lake surface to investigate the possible methods of obtaining samples of Vostok water without damaging its ecosystem. The drilling is expected to be relaunched in 2007.  

 The study of ice already obtained from the drilling have yielded some interesting results. For example, some species of extinct bacteria were discovered that could have thrived only at temperatures 55C and higher.   

 == Measurements