Underwater Life
LIFE ON EARTH NEEDS LIQUID AND HEAT FROM THE SUN TO SURVIVE.  OR SO IT'S USUALLY
THOUGHT.  BUT DEEP ON THE OCEAN FLOOR, MILES AWAY FROM THE NEAREST SUNLIGHT IS
A MID-OCEAN RIDGE THAT TEEMS WITH LIFE.  WHAT DO THESE AREAS HAVE THAT THE REST
OF THE OCEAN FLOOR DOESN'T? SUBMARINE VOLCANOES.

     Delaney: "About 18 years ago it became evident that volcanoes can support life
independent of the sun on the ocean floor."

     JOHN DELANEY IS A BIOLOGIST AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON AND HE SAYS
THAT THE LIFE FOUND THERE ISN'T MUCH LIKE THE LIFE WE SEE ELSEWHERE. WHOLE NEW
TYPES OF BACTERIA NEVER BEFORE SEEN ON EARTH.  GIANT TUBEWORDS THAT DON'T HAVE
A NORMAL DIGESTIVE SYSTEM BUT INSTEAD CARRY SACKS OF BACTERIA INSIDE TO
PROCESS THEIR FOOD.  IN ADDITION, THE VOLCANOES CAN JUST GO NUTS PRODUCIG
NEW LIFE.  AS WAS FOUND AFTER ONE AREA WAS DESSIMATED BY A VOLCANO.

     Delaney: "the exciting thing from our standpoint was that this provided a means
for setting the clock to zero and let us follow for hte first itme biological. . . the changes
we've seen have been absolutely phenomenal.  we have seen growth rates of
organisms, these giant tubeworms. . . getting to a meter and a hlf in a period of less than
20 months.  that translates to about 2-3 mm a day. . . and that's the fastest growing
invertebrate that we know on the planet."

     WHICH MEANS THAT THEY'RE COULD IMPLICATIONS FOR LIFE ON EARTH.

     Delaney: "The best guesses at the origin of life was this primordial soup in shallow
water that a bolt of lightning hit and all fo teh sudden we had amino acids adn we had
the beginnign of the game.  may just not be the story at all but it's really a very stable
deep water setting in a primordial  ocean that's werhe the game began."