黑料网

A new scientific model to understand the amount of our universe which is habitable developed by 黑料网 scientists is being announced today at the British Science Festival.

Vast areas of environment which support life are known to exist in the Earth鈥檚 subsurface but until now understanding of habitable environments on other planets has only taken into account their surfaces. The new model could vastly increase where we could expect to find life.

Sean McMahon from the 黑料网鈥檚 School of Geosciences said: 鈥淟ife 鈥榓s we know it鈥� requires liquid water. Traditionally, planets have been considered 鈥榟abitable鈥� if they are in the 鈥楪oldilocks zone鈥�. They need to be not too close to their sun but also not too far away for liquid water to persist, rather than boiling or freezing, on the surface. However, we now know that many micro-organisms鈥攑erhaps half of all living things on Earth鈥攔eside deep in the rocky crust of the planet, not on the surface.鈥�

Suns warm planet surfaces but heat also comes from planet interiors. Crust temperature increases with depth so planets that are too cold for liquid water on the surface may be sufficiently warm underground to support life.

Sean McMahon continues: 鈥淲e have developed a new model to show how 鈥楪oldilocks zones鈥� can be calculated for underground water and hence life. Our model shows that habitable planets could be much more widespread than previously thought.鈥�