WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Could Some Microbes Live on Air Alone?

0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:06.360
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

0:00:06.400 --> 0:00:09.240
<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren Bugle Bomb here with a classic episode

0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:12.920
<v Speaker 1>for you today. Traditionally, it's been thought that liquid water

0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:16.119
<v Speaker 1>was necessary to sustain life as we know it, but

0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:19.080
<v Speaker 1>some research has indicated that that might not be the case.

0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:25.119
<v Speaker 1>I'll let former Lauren explain, Hey their brain Stuff Lauren

0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:29.360
<v Speaker 1>Vogel bond here. Life's resilience keeps astounding us. Unimaginable as

0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:32.519
<v Speaker 1>it may seem, there's a thriving population of microorganisms in

0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:37.040
<v Speaker 1>the cold, dry, nutrient poor soils of Antarctica. A study

0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:39.760
<v Speaker 1>may have just revealed the secret to their survival, and

0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:42.839
<v Speaker 1>that revelation could transform our quest to find life on

0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:47.200
<v Speaker 1>other planets. Antarctica is a continent which famously goes dark

0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:49.800
<v Speaker 1>for months on end during the winter season, a period

0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:52.680
<v Speaker 1>in which it sees no sunlight. This presents a big

0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:55.760
<v Speaker 1>challenge to organisms who need to photosynthesize, that is, convert

0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:59.760
<v Speaker 1>solar light into food. Intense dryness is another hurdle. Certain

0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:03.360
<v Speaker 1>parts of the continent received no precipitation whatsoever, and even

0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:06.640
<v Speaker 1>though Antarctica is covered in ice, drinkable water is scarce.

0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:09.600
<v Speaker 1>And then we have the issue of carbon all known

0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:12.120
<v Speaker 1>life is based on this element, and yet very little

0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:15.360
<v Speaker 1>of it can be found in Antarctic dirt. But life

0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:18.680
<v Speaker 1>uh finds a way. For years now, biologists have known

0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:22.679
<v Speaker 1>about the existence of diverse bacteria communities in Antarctica's soils.

0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:26.080
<v Speaker 1>How could anything survive under such extreme conditions. To gain

0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:28.959
<v Speaker 1>some insight, a team of Australian and New Zealander scientists

0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:31.720
<v Speaker 1>took a hard look at micro filled dirt samples from

0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:35.600
<v Speaker 1>two ice free sites in eastern Antarctica. Both areas are

0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:39.240
<v Speaker 1>deserts where no plants can grow. The McMurdo Dry Valleys

0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:41.440
<v Speaker 1>region has even been compared to the surface of Mars.

0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:45.360
<v Speaker 1>The place has received no rainfall in almost two million years,

0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:49.000
<v Speaker 1>its humidity levels are staggeringly low, and ice, snow, and

0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:52.880
<v Speaker 1>liquid water are all practically non existent there. On December six,

0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:56.680
<v Speaker 1>the team published their findings in the journal Nature. They

0:01:56.720 --> 0:02:00.680
<v Speaker 1>reported seeing DNA traces from twenty three microbial organism inside

0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:04.720
<v Speaker 1>those soil samples. By reconstructing the microbes genomes, the scientists

0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.000
<v Speaker 1>learned that many of these life forms had genes that

0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:11.120
<v Speaker 1>made them exceptionally good at processing carbon, monoxide and hydrogen.

0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:14.679
<v Speaker 1>The researchers theorized that the organisms are able to meet

0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:17.600
<v Speaker 1>their energy requirements by pulling both of these gases, along

0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:21.120
<v Speaker 1>with carbon dioxide, straight out of the atmosphere. In other words,

0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:24.360
<v Speaker 1>because of Antarctica's shortage of sunlight and suitable water, as

0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:27.679
<v Speaker 1>well as nutrient poor soil, these microbes could be surviving

0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:30.960
<v Speaker 1>off of air alone. Should this be true, planets and

0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:34.359
<v Speaker 1>moons that were once written off as completely uninhabitable might

0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:37.840
<v Speaker 1>be able to sustain life after all. Maybe alien organisms

0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:41.680
<v Speaker 1>don't need drinking water or abundant sunlight on their home worlds. Instead,

0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:44.000
<v Speaker 1>it could be that the only thing they require is

0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:48.120
<v Speaker 1>the right combination of atmospheric gases. But the study scientists

0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:50.760
<v Speaker 1>say more research is needed to see if this phenomenon

0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:52.880
<v Speaker 1>exists in other parts of the world as well as

0:02:52.919 --> 0:03:01.079
<v Speaker 1>outside of it. Today's episode but written by Mark Fancini

0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:04.399
<v Speaker 1>and produced by Tristan McNeil and Tyler Clang. For more

0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:07.239
<v Speaker 1>on this and lots of other expectation breaking topics, visit

0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:10.040
<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of

0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:13.080
<v Speaker 1>iHeart Radio or more podcasts. My heart Radio visit the

0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:16.080
<v Speaker 1>iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:16.960
<v Speaker 1>your favorite shows.