Amazed scientists while tiny algae continue to move inside the Arctic ice

Scientists know that microbial life can survive in extreme conditions, including, hopefully, the Martian time. But new research suggests that a particular microbe, a kind of algae found in the Arctic ice, is not as motionless as it was believed. They are surprisingly active, slippery – and even inside – their icy trampling lands.

In a procedure of the newspaper of the National Academy of Sciences published on September 9, the researchers explained that the ice diatoms – cell cells with glass external walls – actively dance in the ice. This fiery activity questions the hypotheses that microbes living in extreme environments, or extremes, barely get out of it. If anything, these algae have evolved to prosper despite the extreme conditions. The remarkable mobility of these microbes also suggests an unexpected role that they can play in maintaining the Arctic ecology.

“This is not the cryobiology of the 1980s,” said Manu Prakash, the main study of the study and bio-engineer at the University of Stanford, in a statement. “The diatoms are as active as we can imagine until the temperatures drop to -15 C (5 degrees Fahrenheit), which is super surprising.”

This temperature is the lowest of all time for an eukaryotic cell like diatom, say the researchers. Surprisingly, diatoms of the same species of a much warmer environment have not demonstrated the same skating behavior as ice diatoms. This implies that the extreme life of the diatoms of the Arctic was born a “evolutionary advantage”, they added.

Arctic exclusivity

For the study, the researchers collected ice nuclei from 12 stations through the Arctic in 2023. They carried out an initial nuclei analysis using ship microscopes, creating a complete image of the small company inside the ice.

To obtain a clearer image of the way and the reason why these diatoms skied, the team sought to reproduce the conditions of the ice nucleus inside the laboratory. They prepared a petri box with thin layers of frozen fresh water and very cold salt water. The team even gave strands of hair to imitate the microfluidic channels of Arctic Ice, which expels the salt from the frozen apparatus.

As they expected, the diatoms slipped happily into the Petri box, using the wicks as “highways” during their routines. A more in -depth analysis allowed researchers to follow and determine how the microbes carried out their ice tip.

“There is a polymer, a bit like the snail mucus, which they secrete which adheres to the surface, like an anchor with an anchor,” explained Qing Zhang, principal study of the study and a postdoctoral student in Stanford, in the same version. “And then they shoot this” rope “, and that gives them strength to move forward.”

Small body, huge presence

If we are talking about figures, algae can be among the most abundant living organisms in the Arctic. To put this in perspective, the water of the Arctic appear “absolute green” in images of drones only because of algae, explained Prakash.

Researchers have not yet identified the meaning of diatoms’ slip behavior. However, knowing that they are much more active than we thought, it could mean that the tiny skaters contribute without knowing how the resources are by bike in the Arctic.

“In a certain sense, it makes you realize that it is not only a small thing; it is an important part of the food chain and controls what is happening under the ice,” added Prakash.

This is a significant difference in what we often think of them like – a great food source for other larger creatures. But if it is true, it would help scientists bringing new perspectives on the environment difficult to find from the Arctic, especially since climate change threatens its very existence. The moment of this result shows that, to understand what is going on beyond the earth, we must first protect and observe in complete safety what is already here.