And then we knocked a hole in their ecosystem...
There was an intersesting article this morning about finding an intact, self-contained ecosystem that has existed without outside forces for millions of years.
From Yahoo News/Reuters
They think the "bubble" has been closed off for 5 million years, and eight new species have been discovered, mostly insects and crustaceons. Can you imagine how many days went by, how many generations of creatures existed inside of that little universe? Sealed off from even mineral flows and water, with probably geothermal heat as the only outside influence.
It reminds me of those eco-spheres every elementary science teacher had. Little glass balls that were sealed and only allowed light to enter. Eventually plants and algae grow inside.
It's the stuff of science fiction to consider what would have happened if that area had proceeded on a different course of evolution, and we'd found a colony of sentient life in it. The first of genus "homo" appeared between 2.2 and 1.8 million years ago, so they'd be a whole lot different than us.
What would that have meant for humanity to crack it open and find a group of somethings playing cards?
From Yahoo News/Reuters
They think the "bubble" has been closed off for 5 million years, and eight new species have been discovered, mostly insects and crustaceons. Can you imagine how many days went by, how many generations of creatures existed inside of that little universe? Sealed off from even mineral flows and water, with probably geothermal heat as the only outside influence.
It reminds me of those eco-spheres every elementary science teacher had. Little glass balls that were sealed and only allowed light to enter. Eventually plants and algae grow inside.
It's the stuff of science fiction to consider what would have happened if that area had proceeded on a different course of evolution, and we'd found a colony of sentient life in it. The first of genus "homo" appeared between 2.2 and 1.8 million years ago, so they'd be a whole lot different than us.
What would that have meant for humanity to crack it open and find a group of somethings playing cards?
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