Instead of mythological gods doing battle with ice giants the Pilgrims of a planet called Plymouth are warring against the Indians from the planet of Indi over the stuffing mines.

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Researchers say this back-from-the-dead trick has implications for how ecosystems recover from the planet's cyclic long periods of ice coverage.

BBC: Centuries-old frozen plants revived

This has enabled scientists to estimate the volume of water in the ice cap and speculate that much of the planet's original water is either hidden below the surface or missing.

BBC: By BBC News Online Science Editor Dr David Whitehouse

The lake's location in the heart of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet makes it one of the most inhospitable environments on the planet.

BBC: Antarctic Lake Vostok yields 'new bacterial life'

Also on board Mars Odyssey is a neutron spectrometer that registers evidence for underground ice in the same regions of the planet.

BBC: Ice reservoirs found on Mars

Huge sheets of ice reflect solar radiation, keeping our planet cool.

CNN: Polar bears resort to cannibalism as Arctic ice shrinks

The reason for the excitement is that, although the existence of ice on Mars has been known since 1666, when the planet's polar caps were first seen, the low temperatures and air pressure there mean that water, even if heavily salted, is likely either to freeze or to evaporate.

ECONOMIST: Water on Mars

We roped up at the Standhardt Col, a pass overlooking the Southern Patagonia Ice Field, one of the largest expanses of frozen water on the planet.

WSJ: Amid the Perils of Patagonia

The ice, poised between freezing and melting, is an especially sensitive indicator of the planet's temperature.

ECONOMIST: An imminent answer to an Arctic riddle