Microbes

Life finds a way. It seems wherever we [look:saw] , microbes are there, whether high in the sky or more than a kilometre deep underground. And now scientists have found signs of life more than 11 kilometres beneath the ocean's surface. Even at that crushing, frigid depth, there's eating going on. That's what a [study:pathway] in the journal Nature Geoscience finds. A deep-sea lander with oxygen sensors found signs of microbial metabolism at the Challenger [Deep:Cheap] , the oceans' deepest spot. A video camera also saw shrimp-like creatures called amphipods [busily:busy] scavenging. And sediment samples brought carefully to the surface were found to contain bacteria and archaea. The scientists [suggest:demand] that life this deep is possible because the region is a nutrient trap - the researchers found that the [sediment:procurement] at Challenger Deep is richer in food than sediment at more shallow depths nearby. The research also shows that James Cameron was flat out wrong during his pioneering dive to this dark depth last year.