So this is how the world ends...

There is a poem by T.S. Eliot called The Hollow Men, which ends thus:


This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

I was eerily reminded of these lines when I read that Russians have drilled the Antarctic and reached the underground lake called Lake Vostok (which is 3km below the surface). This lake has been isolated from the surface for 30 million years... well, not anymore, since last week. And apparently, the Russian investigators found life there, which is not related to any life currently discovered on Earth!

An example of the lifeforms we'll find there

Cue uncurable illnesses, anyone?