At the edge of a glacier in a separate corner of the Dry Valleys, a different scene of life unfolds.

In an expanse of bright white snow and crystal blue glaciers, what looks like a gruesome scene out of a cheap horror movie interrupts this otherwise serene landscape Known as Blood Falls, its grisly name is a bit of a misnomer.

The crimson red color isn't the site of a murder mystery, but it still managed to mystify scientists for nearly a century.

I'm standing here at the edge of a hidden biosphere.

Blood Falls is one of the most fascinating places on Earth, not only for how striking it looks here in Antarctica, but also because what it means for our understanding of life on planet Earth.

When Blood Falls was discovered over 100 years ago, they thought this red color was algae.

But later on, they were able to figure out it's actually iron oxide.

Iron from a subglacial lake that’s spurting out and as it's hitting oxygen, turns red.

But people thought that it was devoid of life, that there was nothing living in this iron oxide subglacial pond that's pouring out over the edge and creating this beautiful stream behind me.

But in the past couple of decades, a groundbreaking discovery was made.

It was discovered that there's actually life here.

Under my microscope, a sample I took from Blood Falls begins to dance around.

Little cells of bacteria, each with their own dance moves.

Look at them for long enough, and you might begin to even ascribe them different personalities.

While it's possible for me to see there's life here, we weren't so sure a couple decades ago.

Several years ago, a grad student was doing research around Blood Falls and sampled a part of the glacial stream here.

Her name was Jill Mikucki.

And when she sampled that stream, she noticed something really unusual.

Unlike most glacial streams, it was extremely clear.

But not only that, it was twice as salty as the ocean, had no oxygen, but there were living cells inside of it.

What Jill and others were able to discover was that there was an entire subsurface, hidden ecosystem, full of bacteria, that were living in complete darkness underneath the glacier, without oxygen, and in freezing temperatures.

The discovery redefined the boundaries of what extremes life can withstand on our planet and beyond.