Water as red as blood pours from a white Antarctic glacier. First found in 1911, Blood Falls never freezes, even at an average of −17 °C. So where does the red come from?

Radar in 2017 revealed salty water trapped under Taylor Glacier for about a million years, flowing as hidden rivers and a lake. Salt lowers its freezing point, and freezing water releases heat, so it keeps flowing. The brine is rich in iron and almost free of oxygen, yet at least 17 kinds of microbes live in it. When it meets the air, the iron oxidizes and turns rusty red. In 2023, electron microscopes found iron-rich nanospheres about 1/100 the size of a red blood cell.

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