Danakil Depression is a scorching hot, bone-dry, lava-spewing hellhole with lakes of acid. Somehow, there's still life.

达纳吉尔凹地简直就是一个灼热、干燥、熔岩喷涌、湖泊酸化的地狱。但不知何故，这个地方竟然还存在生命体。

 

It's nicknamed the "Gateway to Hell," and that's not an exaggeration. Ethiopia's Danakil Depression lies at the triple junction of three tectonic plates, a place where the land is literally being ripped apart by the split between Africa and Asia.

这里被戏称为“地狱之门”，这并不夸张。埃塞俄比亚的达纳吉尔凹地位于三个构造板块的重叠交界处，这里的地壳正被非洲板块和亚洲板块分裂撕裂。

 

It's arguably the hottest place on Earth, with temperatures recorded as high as 131 degrees Fahrenheit, and that's not even taking into account the heat emanating from the ground, from deadly geothermal springs and lava-spewing volcanoes.

它可以说是地球上最热的地方，气温高达华氏131度，这甚至还没有考虑到地面散发的热量，包括致命的地热温泉和喷发的火山。

 

To make matters worse, it rarely rains. Oh, and the lakes are filled with acid.

更糟的是，这个地方很少下雨。哦，这里的湖泊里充满了酸液。

 

Surely, nothing survives here. Right?

那么,这个地方没有生物能够生存。对吧?

 

Improbably, researchers looking for life in this barren hellscape have found evidence that two extremophile types of bacteria have made their home in the Danakil Depression, reports the BBC.

据英国广播公司报道，令人不可思议的是，在这个贫瘠如地狱般的地区寻找生命的研究人员，已经发现了两种嗜极类生物细菌在达纳吉尔凹地安家生存。

 

It was no small feat for researchers to make the discovery. There's the intense heat and the threat of slipping into a scorching pool of acid, sure.

研究人员这一发现是不小的壮举。毋庸置疑，这里有酷热和随时跌入灼热酸池的威胁。

 

 

But spending any time in Danakil also requires donning gas masks due to the clouds of toxic hydrogen sulphide gas and lung-burning chlorine vapor that choke the air. It took years of planning before researchers felt it was safe enough to brave sample collection.

此外，在达纳吉尔的任何时候，研究人员都需要戴上防毒面具，因为有毒的硫化氢气体和燃烧的氯蒸气会使空气窒息。在经过数年的计划之后，研究人员认为它足够安全，才敢大胆采集样本。

 

Organisms were found in two separate locations, one of which was an acidic pool with a zero pH, a new extremophile record. It's the most acidic place where life has been found anywhere on Earth, by a fair margin.

在达纳吉尔凹地两个不同的地方发现有生物存在，其中一个是酸性的水池，酸碱值为零，这是一个新的嗜极类微生物记录。这是迄今为止地球上能找到生命存活酸性最强的地方。

 

In fact, it's such an extreme place that merely referring to these organisms as "extremophiles" doesn't go far enough. These are "polyextremophiles," capable of living with extreme acidity, high temperatures and high salinity all at once.

事实上，这是一个极端的地方，仅仅把这些生物称为“多嗜极类生物”远远不够。这些“多嗜极类生物”能够同时拥有在极端的酸性、高温和高盐度下生存的能力。

 

The discovery bodes well for the prospect of finding life on other worlds. You could make the case that Danakil is a harder place to live than on Mars or Jupiter's moon Europa, for instance.

这一发现预示着在其他世界寻找生命的前景。比如，你可以认为达纳吉尔凹地是一个比火星或木星的卫星木卫二更难以生存的地方。

 

Scientists hope that by studying extremophiles here on Earth, we might get a glimpse at how life looks elsewhere in the solar system.

科学家们希望通过研究地球上的极端微生物，找到太阳系其他地方的生命的方式。

 

 

 

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