Could Alien Microbes Live Off Products of Radioactive Decay? - The Cosmic Companion Feb 27, 2021
Microorganisms under the sea floor on Earth can live - and thrive - off the products of natural radiation, a new study finds. What could this mean for life on other worlds?
Microorganisms living under the ocean floor feed off products of radioactive decay. Could alien microbes do the same?
Microbes living beneath the seafloor feed largely on the products of radioactive decay, aided by sediment of the seafloor, a new study reveals. This finding radically changes how we look at life processes in one of the largest ecosystems on our planet. It could also alter our views of how life may have evolved on Mars or other alien worlds.
Typically, it was believed that organic material was the primary source of energy for microbes living far beneath the oceans. However, most organic matter is consumed on the seafloor, or just beneath it. Researchers were able to determine that radiolysis (the breakdown of water by radiation) is the principal source of energy for these aquatic beings in sediment more than a few million years old.
“This work provides an important new perspective on the availability of resources that subsurface microbial communities can use to sustain themselves. This is fundamental to understand life on Earth and to constrain the habitability of other planetary bodies, such as Mars,” explains Justine Sauvage, postdoctoral fellow at the University of Gothenburg who conducted the research as a doctoral student at the University of Rhode Island (URI).
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