Bacterial survival in salty antifreeze raises hope for life on Mars and icy moons

Bacterial survival in salty antifreeze raises hope for life on Mars and icy moons

6 years ago
Anonymous $cyhBy-qkd5

https://phys.org/news/2018-07-bacterial-survival-salty-antifreeze-life.html

Liquid oceans on some bodies far from the Sun have lower freezing points because of chemicals and salts that amount to antifreeze, so microbial life would have to survive both the temperatures and the elements. To zoom in on parameters for microbial survivability, researchers from the Technical University of Berlin, Tufts University, Imperial College London, and Washington State University conducted tests with Planococcus halocryophilus, a bacteria found in the Arctic permafrost.

They subjected the bacteria to sodium, magnesium and calcium chloride cocktails, as well as solutions of perchlorate, which is a chemical compound that may help Mars sustain liquid water during the summer. Lead author Jacob Heinz, of the Technical University of Berlin's Center of Astronomy and Astrophysics, says that the researchers expanded beyond the conventional sodium chloride solution because "there's much more than that on Mars."

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