Deep-sea bacteria are at the bottom of this abnormal food chain, which includes shrimp, tubeworms, clams, fish, crabs, and octopi. The ability of life to thrive off of such geothermal energy raises possibilities for other worlds like Jupiter's moon Europa , which most likely has liquid water beneath its icy surface. Europa is squeezed and stretched by gravitational forces from Jupiter and the other Galilean satellites. Tidal friction could possibly warm the core of Europa enough to maintain the solar system's most massive ocean. Astrobiologists are convinced more and more that life on Earth itself might have begun in the sulfurous cauldron around hydrothermal vents.
Vent environments minimize oxygen and radiation, which can damage primitive molecules.
Many of the primordial molecules needed to jump-start life could have indeed formed in the subsurface from the interaction of rock and circulating hot water driven by hydrothermal systems. If this theory proves itself, then as Van Dover gazes through the submarine's camera at the vents on the floor of the Indian Ocean, she may be seeing both a portrait of life's genesis in Earth's distant past-and a glimpse of alien life yet to be discovered. Archives - Archives of past weeks' Daily Selected News Stories. All Rights Reserved. All other copyrights remain property of their respective owners.