The Extremest Extremophiles: Microbial oasis underneath Earth's
driest desert could be great news for life on Mars  For the last
twenty million years, Chile's Atacama Desert has been the
driest, most inhospitable place on Earth. But deep below the
surface of this unimaginably arid world, microbes are
flourishing without even oxygen or sunlight. Meet the extremest
extremophiles.  Researchers from Spain's Center of Astrobiology
and Chile's Catholic University of the North discovered microbes
more than six feet below the surface of Atacama's hypersaline
substrates. These formations trap in both salt and moisture,
providing the bacteria and archaea microorganisms living beneath
them with all the food and water they need to survive.  But what
makes this finding particularly striking is how far underground
the microbes are, leaving without any oxygen or sunlight. Those
sorts of conditions are very much like what microbes would have
to deal with on Mars today. The Atacama has long served as an
experimental - and som