In a cave in Mexico, NASA have discovered alien bugs living inside giant crystals the Naica Mine in Chihuahua state. 100 different types of microbes have been found to be there for up to 60,000 years. The discovery boosts hopes of finding similar life forms on other planets.
NASA scientists found the bacteria inside five meter long gypsum crystals in the Mexican cave system. The crystals sit above a large body of volcanic magma and heat the cave to 60 degrees Celsius, making the scientists dub the environment as hellish. It looks so amazingly otherworldly that scientists who first saw the crystals in photo think that it was photoshopped.
More interestingly, NASA found that out of the 100 microbes, 90 percent are alien bugs. They have never been seen before, reviving the hopes of scientists to find similar life forms in extreme environments on other planets. They previously thought that microbes will not be able to live in such harsh conditions, the Mirror Online reports.
The team of researchers estimate that the microbes have been preserved for between 10,000 and 60,000 years in place where most of Earth’s life forms could not survive in. The bugs in the cave are thought to have evolved by feeding on sulfides, iron, manganese, or copper oxides that build up in the underground system.
Director of NASA’s Astrobiology Institute, Penelope Boston, explained that the bugs were found suspended in the geological materials for a very long time. “They’re really showing us what our kind of life can do in terms of manipulating materials … These guys are living in an environment where there’s not organic food as we understand it," she said. She also added that the discovery might tell us the deep history of our evolution.
According to The Sun, Dr Boston said that her team had to wear special gears that look a lot like space suits to protect them from the heat and allow them to breathe in extremely deep earth level. The chamber where they found the cathedral-like crystals was at the 800 meter level. It was the deepest part they have accessed in the many years that they have started looking for alien bugs in the cave.
