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New Theory Says Oil Reserves Bigger Than Expected -- And E.T. Might Live Underground Cornell University Professor Thomas Gold says oil is purely geological, not biological, in origin; and life probably started underground, so look there for ET. Start Date: 2/10/99 It's not exactly a theory of everything, but in his new book, "The Deep Hot Biosphere" (Copernicus/Springer-Verlag, $27), Cornell University Professor emeritus of astronomy Thomas Gold manages to combine a bunch of seemingly unrelated and highly bizarre ideas into one controversial picture. Among other things, Gold says that life on earth probably started deep underground, where it still exists in profusion (to the surprise of almost everybody except Gold), and that therefore is would be reasonable to look for life on other planets underground as well, even if those planets look quite inhospitable on the surface. Another big idea for Gold is that oil and natural gas, generally regarded as products derived from ancient biology, are nothing of the sort. Gold says instead that these hydrocarbon substances were created geologically in the early stages of earth's formation. As such, they began very deep and gravitated toward the surface, rather than the other way around. And there should be enormous undiscovered oil reserves buried very deep, he says. If so, earth is nowhere near running out of oil. Gold can get a respectful hearing for ideas like this because of his track record. He was the founding director of Cornell's Center for Radiophysics and Space Research for two decades and has earned numerous academic awards and honors. His idea that microbes live miles underground sounded crazy to his colleagues when he first proposed it some years ago, but then, "We pulled up bugs from five kilometers down in the granite in Sweden. They were perfectly alive and probably the earliest life form on the planet," he says. These "bugs," actually archaebacteria, thrive in intense heat and pressure, without any light -- that is, in a truly alien environment within planet earth. There's no reason to doubt that such critters could exist on many other planets as well, perhaps including Mars and some of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, Gold says. Oil is commonly called a "fossil fuel" because of the belief that it formed from the decomposition of once-living things. But that idea is all wrong, Gold says. Oil contains lots of bacteria because they eat the stuff, not because they make it, he says. In fact, in Gold's view, oil may be the preferred food of a very large amount of earth's microbial life. Again, that could mean that the same ecology exists on other planets. It should also mean that earth's oil reserves are enormously larger than commonly believed. Thomas Gold's own synopsis of his new book is on the web at http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/tg21/ Excelsior, Michael Lindemann's new novel (written under the pen name Michael Paul), depicts a wholly plausible near future in which human cloning is both widespread and widely abused; terrorists have access to target-specific biological weapons; recreational space travel is commonplace; and mounting pressures of global climate change, environmental decline, population growth and civil unrest inspire radical new approaches to urban security. Built by Frontier on a Macintosh on 6/17/00; 11:51:20 AM. Web Comments - Produced by Larry Lowe Served 6288 times since 2/10/99.

Cambodia Fights Illegal Logging as Forests Shrink Cambodia's tropical forests are being devastated by a mostly illegal logging trade, abetted by corrupt politicians and military officers. Amphibian Deaths: Environment's 'Canary in a Coal Mine' Amphibians are dying all over the world, taking many species to extinction. So far, no one really knows why. Experts Say Global Warming More Than Predicted A new study released by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change foresees greater global warming than previously predicted, along with greater extremes of weather and faster sea level rise. New Iceberg Is Bigger Than Delaware The biggest iceberg seen since 1987 broke away from Antarctica in October, 1998, but most of the Antarctic ice sheet seems stable, scientists said. Global Warming Seen as Cause of Antarctic Melting New research shows that two large Antarctic ice shelves lost a combined total of nearly 1,100 square miles of ice in 1998, apparently due to global warming. Red Cross Sees Increasing Likelihood of Natural Disasters In a June 1999 report, the International Red Cross warned of a coming era of 'super-disasters' with more 'environmental refugees,' higher insurance losses and declining ability of relief efforts to meet the challenge. Much Deforestation Driven By Population, Poverty Marginalized by the spread of commercial farming and ranching enterprises, subsistance farmers are forced to destroy large amounts of tropical forest for new farmland. Amazon Destruction More Rapid Than Expected Destruction of the Amazon rainforest is occurring two to three times more rapidly than previously estimated. Conservatively, 16 percent of the original forest is already gone. Global Warming Devastates World's Coral Reefs Rising sea water temperature due to global warming threatens to destroy the majority of coral reefs on earth, with potentially huge ecological and economic consequences. 1998 Was the Hottest Year on Record NASA and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) both released data showing that 1998 was the hottest year on record, by a surprisingly large margin.