Contrary to Earlier Reports, Scientists Find a Place on Earth where there is No Life

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The infernal landscape of Dallol, located in the Ethiopian depression of Danakil, extends over a volcanic crater full of salt, where toxic gases emanate and water boils in the midst of intense hydrothermal activity. It is one of the most torrid environments on Earth. There, daily temperatures in winter can exceed 45 degrees Celsius[113 F] and there are abundant hypersaline and hyperacid pools with pH values that are even negative.

A recent study, published this year, reports that certain microorganisms can develop in this multi-extreme environment (simultaneously very hot, saline and acid), which has led its authors to present this place as an example of the limits that life can support, and even to propose it as a terrestrial analogue of early Mars.

However, a French-Spanish team of scientists led by biologist Purificacion Lopez Garcia of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) has now published an article in Nature Ecology & Evolution that concludes otherwise. According to these researchers, there is no life in Dallol's multi-extreme ponds.

"After analyzing many more samples than in previous works, with adequate controls so as not to contaminate them and a well-calibrated methodology, we have verified that there's no microbial life in these salty, hot and hyperacid pools or in the adjacent magnesium-rich brine lakes," says Lopez Garcia.

Read more of this story at SoylentNews.