No life possible here: Spanish researcher reveals most hostile place on earth
Thursday, November 21, 2019 @ 11:38 AM
SPANISH and French researchers have found a place on earth where no life exists – and where nobody and nothing of any species can live.
Dr Purificación López García led the team at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) on Paris' Rue Michel Ange, where she works, and is the author of the report in the magazine Nature Ecology & Evolution.
It contradicts a study published earlier this year which claimed certain microorganisms are able to survive in 'poly-extreme environments', such as exceptionally-high levels of salt, acid or heat.
Dr López García's team has discovered that the Dallol pools in the Danakil valley of Ethiopia are impossible for any species – human, animal, plant, fungal, bacterial, or any organism whatsoever considered to be 'alive' – to survive in.
Hyper-acidic, hyper-salinated pools of extreme temperatures spread out through a volcanic crater from which toxic gases are constantly being emitted are too hostile for any type of microbial life, the report claims.
The team 'analysed many more samples' than in the previous research which claimed there was no environment on earth where some kind of life was impossible, effecting 'adequate controls' to ensure 'no cross-contamination' and a 'highly-calibrated methodology', according to Dr López García.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com