A lake concealed under the ice in Western Antarctica may reveal details about the kind of life forms that existed on the planet millions of years ago. A team of British scientists and engineers is all set to travel to the Antarctic, for the first stage of an ambitious scientific mission to collect water and sediment samples from a lake buried beneath three kilometers of solid ice. This extraordinary research project, at the frontier of human exploratory endeavors, should yield new data about the evolution of life on Earth and vital clues about the Earths past climatic conditions. Lake Ellsworth is likely to be the first of Antarcticas 387 known sub glacial lakes to be measured and sampled. Scientists will use a specially-designed and manufactured probe, using space-industry standard clean technology, according to a release from the Lake Ellsworth project team. For years, scientists have speculated that new and unique forms of microbial life could have evolved and sustained itself, in this cold, pitch-black and isolated environment. IBT