The Daily Galaxy (TDG) reports Russians disagree, whether new form of microbial life, discovered in Lake Vostok (picture). Lake Vostok lies under two miles of ice in Antarctica.
Vladimir Korolyov, head of genetics lab at the Institute for Nuclear Physics in St. Petersburg, Russia contradicts earlier report by Sergei Bulat. Korolyov advises it was a contaminated sample.
TDG article explains importance of Lake Vostok as a preparatory site for space exploration:
"Lake Vostok an excellent Earth-bound staging-experiement for Europa, a moon of Jupiter believed to have ice-crusted oceans. Scientists believe Europa's ocean, which is warmed by gravitational forces, could be one of the best places in the Solar System to look for life."
The question remains whether there was a discovery? The statement provided previously by Bulat casts some doubt on Korolyov's advice below:
"Preliminary analysis of water samples collected from the lake revealed a species of bacteria not belonging to any known subkingdoms. 'We call it unidentified and 'unclassified' life,' the team's leader, Sergei Bulat of the St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, told Russian news agency RIA Novosti. The bacteria's DNA wasrep[orted to be less than 86% similar to known bacterial DNA, indicating that it was a new species, Bulat said."
Doesn't the Bulat statement sound confident?
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