Scientists have made a major discovery of ancient life forms as old as 50,000 years, that have been detected still alive inside crystals. These ancient crystals were found inside hot and humid caves in Naica, Mexico.

These unique microbes are considered as dormant and are able to still subsist by living off on minerals like iron and manganese reveals Penelope Boston of NASA's Astrobiology Institute.

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She adds, this is indeed super life when she presented this evidence during the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference held in Boston. Boston explains this is simply another illustration of how completely tough life on Earth is.

The team was able to revive these ancient microbes both on site and inside laboratory conditions, where further tests will be carried out to analyze these specimens. These new findings resulted from nine years of research and site work which have not yet been published in a scientific journal.

The team also found 40 different strains of microbes including some ancient viruses. Boston describes them as so genetically diverse from each other that 10 percent of them can be compared to how different mushrooms are different from humans.

These Naica caves are located in the northern region of Chihuahua, Mexico. This region is also filled with abandoned mines that used to dig for lead and zinc where they can go as far as half a mile below the surface.

However, mining companies abandoned these mines even before drilling began. It is due to extremely hot temperatures inside these caves that scientists are forced to wear protective gear similar to space suits which are all lined with ice packs to keep them cool. This helped the entire body regulate temperatures and also to prevent them from contaminating the crystal specimens.

Boston revealed that their team can only work for a maximum of 20 minutes at a time before they need to cool down. Temperatures can reach up to 38 degrees Celsius, similar to having a fever.

Despite this incredible discovery, these 50,000 year old microbes are not the oldest form of living organisms on Earth. Just a few years ago, some scientists were able to publish a study that involved microbes that are living ice and salt that are estimated to be around 8 million years old.