The search for a planet analogous to our own has taken one step closer with the discovery of the smallest extrasolar planet yet orbiting a star which could support life. It is about three and one-third times the size of Earth, much more in line with our home than the gas giants on the scale of Jupiter or Saturn we had been finding up to this point. (An even smaller planet has so far been found, but it is orbiting a pulsar. Pulsars spew highly powerful radiation, so it's highly unlikely that anything within their vicinity could survive).
What a wonderful discovery. It is a good idea searching for planets analogous to ours but I assume that finding another earth would be impossible because of the extreemely exqusite nature of the earth and I doubt if any other planet within and without our galaxy will come 80% close to our planet in beauty.
The Archaea group of organisms has just gotten a little bigger—and quite a bit deeper. Known to scientists as extremophiles—organisms which live in places inhospitable to other forms of life—the Archaea group is home to many single-celled creatures capable of thriving in environments of exceptional temperature, pressure, and acidity. The latest member has been discovered off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, under 2.8 miles of water and a mile of rock. Previously, the deepest these organisms had been found underground was half as far.
This discovery is relevant in proving that some organisms are capable of thriving in extreem enviroments, which can support the theory relating to the origin of life, and that such organisms might have existed during the active chemistry period of early earth later evolving into higher organisms.
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