This episode leaves Carlsbad Cavern itself and takes us to another famous cave in the park—Lechuguilla Cave—where deep underground two scientists look for signs of life unlike anything we’ve seen before.

Microbes in Space!

[Radio scanning stations, crackles into doowop rendition of the hymn “Rock of Ages,” and continues to play in the background.]

INTRO: Hello, everyone! Welcome to this episode of Rock of Ages. Rock of Ages will take on a different form as we all adapt to the challenges of this year. This project has been made possible by the diligent work, research, time, and vocal talents of the interpretive staff at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Our episode today leaves Carlsbad Cavern itself and takes us to another famous cave in the park—Lechuguilla Cave—where deep underground two scientists look for signs of life unlike anything we’ve seen before. So, sit back, relax, and listen to an alien world. . . .

[Music fades to silence.]

NARRATOR: Leading microbiologist Dr. Vera Small and her research assistant, Hannah Lovecraft, are currently thirteen hundred feet below the surface. They are sitting around a tiny, unassuming cave pool in the heart of Lechuguilla Cave, no more than a foot in length and half as wide. They are surrounded by stygian darkness, save for the dim light of their headlamps, focused entirely on the pool. Dr. Small has journeyed into the wild depths of Lechuguilla so many times that the novelty of it has worn off, but for Hannah, this expedition is a rite of passage. As the two women work shoulder to shoulder in near silence, Hannah reminds Dr. Small of why she began this study, and they both realize the magnitude of what they hope to accomplish.

[Two sets of footsteps echo on the cave floor. Bags set down, water splashes as a spoon is dipped in the pool, water sample trickles into container. Voices echo in the cave.]

DR. SMALL: And the pH reading?

HANNAH: 7.92.

DR. SMALL: Awesome. Here—Hannah—store the vials securely.

[Lid screwed tight.]

HANNAH: Secure. [Sarcastically.] Now we just have to crawl several hours to the surface with them.

DR. SMALL: [Patronizing.] True, and the last thing we want to do is contaminate them.

HANNAH: [Sheepishly.] Oh, yeah. Yeah, of course, Dr. Small!

DR. SMALL: You are one of a very select group of people to ever have set foot here. Which is why we are here. If humans haven’t touched this small room, this small cave pool, what might the organisms that call this inhospitable environment home be able to teach us?

HANNAH: Maybe how they live here? Oh, sorry, was that rhetorical?

DR. SMALL: No, you’re exactly right. Almost a thousand feet below the surface—almost sealed off from all contact with the surface—in complete darkness—we find life. [Pauses, speaks almost to herself in wonder.] How do they live here? A tiny bit of carbon makes its way down from the surface . . . the tiniest influence of the sunny world far above. But we still have so much to learn on what conditions let them thrive. [Speaking directly to Hannah.] I can’t wait to take a look at these under the microscope and show you how cool the Lechuguilla pool samples are. Forms and shapes you’ve never seen before, that you couldn’t dream up. Even in the macroscopic, you’ve seen some wild things—cotton candy-like fluff clinging to walls. In other caves we’ve seen what looks like snot hanging above us—only it’s dripping sulfuric acid. Unnerving, but beautiful. And it’s all alive—full of microbes. It’s beguiling, foreign, alien! That’s why to understand what’s beyond earth, we can start inside it. [Takes on a teaching role.] Okay. So . . . if you’re life trying to eke out an existence on another planet, say Mars, what are you up against?

HANNAH: Uh . . . temperature?

DR. SMALL: Right! Wild temperature swings, even over the course of a single day. What else?

HANNAH: Atmospheric pressure . . . and no oxygen, and, uh . . . give me a minute, I know this. . . . UV radiation exposure!

DR. SMALL: Exactly. Its rough on the surface. Now, what if I told you that communities of microbial organisms taken from this cave survived a laboratory experiment simulating Mars-like conditions? [Becomes excited as she continues.] It’s a bit extreme to expect to find life on the surface today, but if it could have survived, made its way into the subsurface—that’s one really promising place to look for life on other planetary bodies. [Becomes even more excited.] And evidence for caves on the moon and Mars keeps growing! And even if we don’t directly find life, we may be able to discover evidence—“signatures” of past life—fossils, geochemical changes, isotopic shifts, weathering patterns! And we can use this cave as a massive, complex laboratory to conceptualize what this evidence might look like!

HANNAH: And it’s easier to get here than to the surface of Mars. Not that getting here was easy.

DR. SMALL: Indeed. I doubt I’ll ever get off this planet. But this is the closest I’ve found so far on Earth. Not that Earth will ever run out of surprises, especially in places like this.

HANNAH: I do feel like an astronaut down here, sometimes. Carrying everything in and everything out. In darkness all the time, unable to tell if it’s day or night, working and living with a small team.

DR. SMALL: Maybe one day you could be part of a team that sets foot on the moon or another planet.

HANNAH: [Quiet, considering the possibility.] Huh.

DR. SMALL: Well, right now, I’d like to set foot back in camp for some delicious rehydrated pasta.

HANNAH: Right behind you.

[Bags being packed and zipped. Two sets of footsteps echo on the cave floor, fade to silence as water drips into the cave pool.]

NARRATOR: Microbes have stood the test of time like no other lifeform. Nowhere else on the planet can you find life as ancient and persistent as microbes in a virgin cave like Lechuguilla. The story of their survival is intimately recorded in the pristine pools of water, in the beautiful formations, in the very air within the cavern. Microbes were the beginning of life on this planet, and they will be the last lifeforms to remain. Scientists are using the information gathered in the quiet darkness of caves to test the boundaries of human existence. These microbes are helping to fight the increasing number of deadly bacteria resistant to antibiotics, to find possible cures for certain types of cancers. The pursuit of life on celestial bodies, and the continuance of that life, is intimately tied to cave exploration. Microbes adapted to living in extreme environments like caves have inspired us to look beyond ourselves and beyond the heavens for answers to human survival, for it is the research conducted in the depths of Lechuguilla that has illustrated how incredible, how varied, and how precious all life is.

[Doowop rendition of the hymn “Rock of Ages” begins and continues to play in the background.]

OUTRO: We hope you enjoyed this episode of Rock of Ages. This episode featured the voices of rangers Kialey Day as Dr. Vera Small, Laura Steele as Hannah Lovecraft, and Aubrey Brown as the Narrator. This episode was researched by Grace Housman, and written by Abby Burlingame. Recording production was done by James Gunn and Anthony Mazzucco, music and audio engineering by Gabe Montemayor, with Abby Burlingame and Aubrey Brown at the creative helm. Join us for our next episode, coming soon! Thanks for listening. . . . See ya soon . . . and happy trails!

[Music fades to silence.]