In a new study, researchers speculate that a towering undersea hot-water chimney laden with microbes is just the sort of place that might have spawned life on Earth or even other planets.
The hydrothermal vent system discovered two years ago has now been found to have endured for 30,000 years. Researchers said similar setups -- on Earth and possibly on other worlds -- might last millions of years and could have been incubators for the first life.
The Lost City, as it has been named, is a craggy column of minerals and microbes sitting 2,500 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. It is 180 feet (55 meters) tall, higher than any other known underwater vent system and more than twice as tall as most....