Salt is useful food preservative. Researchers found evidence of life in some very old salt crystals, which they preserved by researchers who examined them.
“There are tiny cubes of original liquid from which this salt was grown. We were surprised to see shapes similar to what we would expect of microorganisms,” Kathy Benison, a West Virginia University geologist, said. “And they might still be surviving within that preserved microhabitat of 830 million years.”
Benison and her colleagues originally discovered salt crystals (aka Halite) in central Australia. These findings were published in Geology by Benison.
This video shows the inside of a salt crystal.
While the idea of these microorganisms still being alive is amazing, Benison stated that science supports it.
“We have discovered that organisms can survive in extreme environments. It is almost like a hibernation. She said that they are still alive but their biological activities slow down.
Benison believes that microorganisms could exist in the crystal if they are alive and well. To confirm that the halite is organic matter and that it is alive, one would have to open the halite.
Although cracking into the crystal may seem like a risky move, aEUR” we are currently fighting a global pandemic due to microscopic viruses. Nevertheless, aEUR” Benison has plans to do exactly that. She said that there wasn’t need to be concerned.
She said that although it sounds like a bad B-movie (it does), there has been years of work to find the best way to make that happen.
Bonnie Baxter was a biologist at Westminster College Salt Lake City. However, she offered some words of comfort.
She stated that an environmental organism that has not seen a human being is unlikely to be able to infect us with disease-causing agents. “So, I personally, looking at science, have no fear of it.”
Baxter stated that these discoveries were not only a significant step in understanding the origins and evolution of life on Earth but also opened up the possibility of finding life on other planets.
“And when we think about Mars, we are talking about billions and years since microbial life could be flourishing on the planet’s waters. Baxter stated that we need to do longer experiments with rocks that have been around for longer periods of time on Mars in order to understand what might happen there.
They might even be able to help us find evidence of aliens.
