Technology Bigshot Chapter 581: : Hibernators]
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The Mars locomotive continued to move forward, stopped at a corner of the slope, and continued to move forward after placing a strobe instrument on the side wall.
"Ma'am, help me watch first, I'll go get something to eat." Ren Hong said, having been sitting here for most of the day.
Just as he walked to the door, Aislin suddenly subconsciously exclaimed: "God..."
Ren Hong instinctively stopped, turned and looked back at the console, Aislin looked at the screen in shock, completely unaware that "Wang Jiang" was looking at her.
"What's wrong?" Ren Hong asked suspiciously.
"I suggest you wait a while before eating. It's best to come and have a look. It's incredible..." Aislin still stared at the screen, as if talking to herself.
Seeing her expression, Ren Hong didn't even want to come back directly. He glanced at the information displayed on the screen, and he was also stunned.
For the first time, the Mars locomotive came to an open area, or a larger and wider tunnel. The grid-like three-dimensional topographic map showed bulging spheres. There are at least several here, with all diameters. After 2.7 meters.
"Yeast?" Ren Hong said subconsciously. At this moment, he had forgotten the growling of his stomach, and those bulging hemispheres were all leaven.
He quickly tapped the keyboard a few times, and after a while, the 3D image was replaced by a thermal image, and then another graphic mode.
Deep underground, a new camera immediately appeared on the top of the Mars locomotive. Two thin fan-shaped green laser barriers were lined and erected, which were extremely dazzling in the dark and dull depths. One laser barrier was from top to bottom. , and the other side scans back and forth from left to right against the terrain ahead.
Yang Licheng, who had been standing on the sidelines for a long time, was also moved when he saw the next scene. He also put down the hand around his chest and stared at the screen with wide eyes.
The screen information data shows a number of strong life signals, the living life signals, the source of the signal is the multiple motionless giant spherical objects, after the data feedback from the biological scanner, the internal structure of each giant spherical yeast The graph is displayed.
A massive body curled up inside each ball, curled up like a snake, it's the Martian snake lizard!
"This is... a snake lizard egg?" Aislin looked at the screen and turned to Ren Hong.
"No, look at its body shape. Although it is curled up, it stretches at least three and a half meters. It is obviously an adult individual. The spheres that wrap them are unknown yeast organisms..." Ren Hong looked at Look at the data displayed on another screen: "Moisture content %?"
"Facultative anaerobic substances?" Ren Hong was suddenly shocked and said: "I see, no wonder they have not shown any signs of activity in the past six months. It turns out that they are in the dormant period or hibernation period, I see. Are they dormant, sleeping!"
“Mars has a harsh environment and food is extremely scarce. If you stay active all year round, you need to eat continuously to maintain the calories consumed by life activities, but dormancy is different. Eat a big meal and sleep for a long time. The purpose is to reduce physical energy consumption and become facultative anaerobic substances during the dormant period..." Ren Hong looked at the screen in amazement: "This is the creature that cherishes energy the most I have ever seen, and it almost saves energy consumption to the extreme... Sexual anaerobicity, it is no wonder that it is wrapped into a sphere by yeast, and the snake lizard can also ferment to produce yeast. The dormant period and the characteristics of facultative anaerobicity, this process not only consumes almost no energy, but also takes a long time. During dormancy, fermentation is carried out on the surface of the body in a facultative anaerobic state, and this giant leaven that has been completed for a long time is simply a delicious meal for Mars, which is starved of food.”
"But even so, it can't complete a cycle of life activities. Don't forget that they came to the surface of Mars." Aislin questioned.
"Don't you understand yet?" Ren Hong pointed to the data display, "Changes in humidity, anaerobic and facultative anaerobic microorganisms in the soil that do not rely on oxygen very much, simple and low-level life has appeared here, Have you seen the temperature change? The deeper you go into the ground, the temperature is rising. Now it's below zero, and the lowest temperature period in the upper layer has reached minus 47 degrees. Then what about going down..."
"Where is this place? Our feet." Ren Hong asked rhetorically.
"Volcano! And it's an extinct volcano that has been dead for hundreds of millions of years." Aisling replied.
"What's under the volcano?" Ren Hong asked again.
"You mean..." Aislin's eyes lit up, Ren Hong snapped his fingers, and then said: "The source of life, water! Liquid water! The temperature of the core of Mars is over 15oo degrees Celsius. "
Ren Hong suddenly stretched out his fist and metaphorically said: "Mars is a star system, and the core furnace with more than 1ooo degrees Celsius inside is the hot sun, and different strata represent planets and planetary orbits..." Ren Hong gestured He gestured, looked at his fist with a smile and said: "There is a golden position, where the temperature is just enough to make water liquid, the habitable zone! Just like the sun and the earth, the earth is in the golden position, the habitable zone! Water can be in the habitable zone. The earth is liquefied, liquid water...the source of life, and the habitable zone in the subsurface of Mars also exists!"
"This can explain why the soil on the surface of Mars contains water." Ren Hong said with incomparable certainty: "Because there is liquid water on the ground of Mars, it exists in the form of groundwater, and the water is stored in the empty dead space. In the volcano, water usurped the 'home' of the hot lava and became the new flowing 'blood' of the volcano, and the extinct volcano was 'reborn' because of this. The underground of Mars is a new world of life, and the snake lizard may be the master of that world. ..."
Aisling still felt that his hypothesis was untenable and questioned: "Water is indeed the source of life, but what about oxygen? Could there be plants in the ground on Mars? There is no complete food chain, complete biological ecology, and no balance. ..."
"It's not true that the snake lizard exists." Ren Hong interrupted her, and Aislin was at a loss for words.
"Let's make an assumption together..." Ren Hong said to himself: "Mars hundreds of millions of years ago was a prosperous planet with life, and biological extinction exploded. Snakes and lizards are one of the survivors. Many The species became extinct because of the great changes in the environment, and the snakes and lizards escaped. The great changes in the environment and the collapse of the food chain forced them to continue to evolve to avoid extinction. The dead volcanoes became their new settlements, and the extinction of Martian plants led to Oxygen disappears, what if there is no plant to provide oxygen? They make their own oxygen..."
"Animals? Self-made oxygen?" Aislin looked at him suspiciously.
"Any organ or behavior evolved by a creature is to adapt to survival, otherwise it will be a waste of energy. Why can the snake lizard secrete acid corrosion? Why can the snake lizard generate electricity?" Ren Hong asked back.
Looking at Jin Liangniu who still didn't know what to do, Ren Hongyan said succinctly: "They use these two skills to produce oxygen in the form of electrolyzed water!"
Speaking out the key, at this moment, Aislin is suddenly enlightened. There are too many ways to survive oxygen. Photosynthesis of plants is the most common. Among them, electrolysis of water is also one of the most common ways to produce oxygen. .
In this way, it can explain why the snake lizard can generate electricity and secrete acid corrosion. The environment on Mars is harsh and food is scarce. The evolution of any organ will inevitably degenerate if it has no effect, and these two unique skills happen to be large energy consumers. What is the use of evolution if they have no effect?
"Unbelievable..." Aislin muttered to herself in amazement.
"Explorers! Immediately take biological samples and return to the surface. Hope these hibernators won't be awakened..."
As soon as Yang Licheng heard this, he immediately said on the communicator: "All units pay attention, keep vigilance and prepare for battle!" (To be continued.)8