What does a 14 million year-old lake look like?

Image from NASA

Russian researchers at the heart of Antarctica are about to complete a 20-year attempt to reach a lake deep under heart of the continent.

Vostok (which happens to be the source of the ice core that tells us that atmospheric levels of CO2 are the highest in 420,000 years) consists of several lakes trapped under Antarctica's permanent ice cap. Some of these lakes were formed when the Southern continent was still attached to Australia!

With 4 kilometers of ice acting as an insulating blanket, heat from the Earth has kept the lakes in liquid form. It's liquid form is why scientists expect to find life trapped in this pristine environment that hasn't seen the light of day for 14 megayears. They will literally have a glimpse of prehistory!

Read the article in Wired here.