Frozen facts

AIDED by radio and seismic waves, scientists have discovered more than 70 lakes
that lie buried under thousands of feet
of ice in this glacial continent. Of these,
the largest lake is a body of seemingly
fresh water 140 miles long and 30 miles
wide, located next to Russia's Vostok
research base in East Antarctica. Though
the existence of the subglacial Lake
Vostok has been known for two decades,
scientists gauged its large dimensions
and its potential importance to science
has come to light only recently. Scientists hope to find 'fossil' microbes, bacteria and viruses which have remained
the same over as much as a million years.
But they have yet to figure out how to
study these organisms without polluting
the lake. Last year, an international
group of scientists meeting in London
had stressed on the need to prepare an
environmental impact assessment of the
project. One of the ways could be to
conduct experiments in a smaller lake.