The Hunt For The Devil Worm (360°)

South Africa is home to big majestic animals but what most people don't know is that it's also home to the tiniest and deepest living creatures in the world [Music] Guyton is a zoologist from Belgium who regularly travels to the mines of South Africa to find worms that could unlock clues to life on other planets his quest for extraterrestrial life takes him over a mile below the Earth's surface where temperatures can reach up to a hundred degrees Fahrenheit these extreme environments provide the closest analog to the potential subsurface conditions on Mars [Music] gaitán conducts his research in an active goldmine so him and his team are regularly reminded of the hazards surrounding their field work here they narrowly avoid a mine train carrying debris this is where Gaytan discovered the devil worm if worms can survive here with zero sunlight and almost no oxygen Gaitan hopes that there are similar pockets of life in the subsurface of other planets the fracture water from this borehole is said to be three thousand to twelve thousand years old and it's in these warm ancient waters where the worm from hell likes to hang out seen under a microscope this is what the devil worm looks like it got its nickname because of the hellish surroundings that it's able to thrive in a place where the majority of the scientific community had previously deemed uninhabitable for any multicellular organism after about an hour underground it's time to resurface [Music] Guyton and his team will analyze the water sample and see if they discover yet another microorganism that could offer even more clues to possible life on other planets [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Motherboard

Views: 74,410

Rating: 3.1374638 out of 5

Keywords: motherboard, motherboardtv, vice, vice magazine, documentary, science, technology, tech, sci-fi, artificial intelligence, AI, virtual reality, VR, vice videos, future, cryptocurrency, privacy, security, cyber, devil worm, mars, space, aliens, life, nematodes, hell worm, miner, tiniest animal on earth, smallest, multicellular organism, deepest animal on earth, crazy animals, wild science

Id: O1VTBJRt04I

Length: 2min 38sec (158 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 15 2018