‘Parallel Universe’ of Life Described Far Beneath the Bottom of the Sea
As reported on Wired. BY BRANDON KEIM A sample of oceanic crust basalt (left) and a microscopic cross-section (right) denoting changes of concentration in sulfur, an element used by microbes there. Image: Spencer et al./Science Deep beneath the ocean floor off the Pacific Northwest coast, scientists have described the existence of a potentially vast realm of life, one almost completely disconnected from the world above. Persisting in microscopic cracks in the basalt rocks of Earth’s oceanic…