Science View S2018E05 - Discovering the Boundaries of Life - The Great Exploration Under the Ocean Floor

What is the highest temperature in which life can survive? How far deep in the earth's crust below the ocean floor does life exist? In fall of 2016, a team lead by experts from JAMSTEC, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology conducted research aboard a deep-sea drilling vessel capable of digging up to thousands of meters below the ocean floor. In the world's first-ever survey, they dug up core samples from the sub-seafloor to examine the maximum temperature limit of life. Currently, the upper temperature limit stands at 122 degrees Celsius, coming from microbes found near a hydrothermal vent at the bottom of the ocean. We will focus on the survey that is drawing attention from around the world.