Japanese scientists are to explore the centre of the Earth. Using a giant drill ship launched next month, the researchers aim to be the first to punch a hole through the rocky crust that covers our planet and to reach the mantle below.
The team wants to retrieve samples from the mantle, six miles down, to learn more about what triggers undersea earthquakes, such as the one off Sumatra that caused the Boxing Day tsunami. They hope to study the deep rocks and mud for records of past climate change and to see if the deepest regions of Earth could harbour life.
Asahiko Taira, director general of the Centre for Deep Earth Exploration in Yokohama, near Tokyo, said: "One of the main purposes of doing this is finding deep bacteria within the ocean crust and upper mantle. We believe there has to be life there. It's the same mission as searching for life on Mars".
Consiglio, a chi non riesce ad aspettare i risultati di questa missione, la lettura di un vecchio classico di Edgar Rice Burroughs (il creatore di Tarzan e uno dei miei scrittori pulp preferiti), in inglese, libero da copyright e quindi scaricabile integralmente grazie al progetto Gutenberg: At the Earth's Core.
(L'altro scrittore pulp preferito è Philip José Farmer, più vicino a noi temporalmente, di cui qui potete leggere un profilo bello e molto completo)
(E.R.Burroughs a sinistra e a destra P.J. Farmer)
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