In this Jan. 9, 2007, photo provided by the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute of St. Petersburg, showing the Russian drilling machine 5-G works in Antarctica.
In a statement Wednesday Feb. 8, 2012, the research institute said it has reached Lake Vosok, Antarctica's largest icebound freshwater lake which has been sealed off for millions of years, after more than two decades of drilling, and the breakthrough has been eagerly anticipated by scientists who hope to find virgin clues about the progenitors of life, on earth and other planets.
Read: Russian Scientists Reach Lake Under Antarctica
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(AP Photo/ Pavel Teterev, Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute Press Service)