Life on Earth exists pretty much everywhere. And I mean everywhere, including the middle of crustal rock, miles down from the surface of the planet, completely in the absence of light energy or free gaseous oxygen. Science has known for over 20 years about this bacterial subsurface biosphere, but recently in South Africa we have found the first multicellular organisms that can survive that deep: a kind of nematode worm that rejoices in the name of Halicephalobus mephisto. Named after the demon who tempted Faust, this invertebrate can survive relatively high temperatures and feeds off the films of sturdy bacteria that form in the fractures between slabs of bedrock.
It seems to me that the debate over the existence of extraterrestrial life just keeps getting more interesting. I doubt we're going to ever find highly intelligent green Martian people living in vast, underground cities, but I think it's becoming more and more likely that we will find life to be incredibly common, with single-celled or simple multicellular creatures carving out a metabolic niche wherever they are able.
Read more here: Worms from hell identified far below the Earth's surface via physorg.com
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