Arctic ice sheets may provide clues in searching for alien life

U.S. scientists are studying sheets Arctic ice sheets, looking for evidence that can help them find alien microorganisms that may have evolved in the Solar System.

A group of researchers, led by environmental biogeochemist Jeffrey White from Indiana University, looked at glaciers in Greenland to study the methane released by methanogenic microbes.

By analyzing the methane emissions, White and his colleagues found out that a variety of microbes have emitted the methane discovered at the area, indicating a surprising biological variation within small lakes.

Researchers said that the samples from Mars have to be approached with the expectation that “pronounced variation in biological markers could occur even over distances as small as 100 meters.”

The scientists are hoping the study of the microbes in extremely cold regions will help them better understand bionic process that may have occurred in places outside relatively similar environments like Mars, Jupiter’s moon Europa or Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

"It seems reasonable to search for evidence of similar biological processes on other icy bodies in our solar system,” White said.

The study was published in Astrobiology Magazine, a Web-based publication sponsored by the NASA astrobiology program.

(From news reports)