Scientists are planning on drilling almost two miles through solid ice to reach a lake, completely cut off from the world for millions of years. The lake is in Antarctica and sits under a nearly two mile thick ice sheet which has preserved the lake and it's contents in pristine condition, allowing insight into the planet at the time that the lake was covered. Scientists plan on taking samples at many levels of the water as well as sediment and a core sample that could extend up to ten feet. They hope to learn about the planet's past makeup, the possibility of life, and conditions in a completely pristine, though completely cut off, setting, and hope to avoid the inevitable "releasing of an ancient sea-monster, thus destroying the world."
A few things this could effect:
-new species
-a limit on where life can survive if no life is found
-insight into whether ice-covered lakes have the probability of life (we have found "lakes" that we believe are simply covered with ice in the solar system)
-insight into how humans are effecting the atmosphere
-insight into natural global warming and cooling (and thus insight into human caused global warming)
-insight into how the planet's changed
-sea monsters
So the results could be pretty interesting and valuable. Unfortunately it's one of those things we probably won't hear about again for the next few years barring some huge discovery, but it's still great to know we are still exploring...
Read the article below
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44853371/#.TpROr2Bpcno
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