What Lies Beneath Lake Vostok?
October 22nd, 2004Deep beneath the South Pole ice-cap is a strange fresh water lake — Lake Vostok. Lake Vostok is the subject of intense speculation, debate and strange conspiracy rumors. Because it hasn’t been exposed to our atmosphere since at least the last ice-age, it may contain ancient microorganisms that do not exist anywhere else on our planet. Some researchers even suggest it may be a perfect testbed for researching life on other planets, or at least researching Earth’s past. But the plot thickens. Over the last few years I have heard interesting and strange (unconfirmed) rumors about a massive magnetic anomaly deep within Lake Vostok. I have also heard a number of rumors about accidental visitors being turned away on threat of death from Lake Vostok by armed military guards, and rumors of high-level interest in whatever is down there from a number of intelligence agencies and space agencies. Now why would they need armed military guards at a remote South Pole research lab? Could there be something more interesting than just ancient bacteria down there? Recently a major controversy erupted over Russian plans to drill through the ice-shell that shields the lake from the surface atmosphere. This article provides some more background on this mysterious and interesting research site.