Titan Occupies A Solar System Sweet Spot

SocietyoftheFist writes "From an article on the BBC website, scientists have determined that Titan occupies a 'sweet spot' much like Earth. Venus is the same size as Earth but too hot so water boiled off long ago ending most geologic processes. Mars is too small to generate enough heat to keep water from freezing so it too slowed down geologically. Titan is much like the Earth with winds, rains and tectonic forces but instead of water it has an abundance of methane. Methane is liquid at the temperatures found in Titan's atmosphere and replaces water in the equation."

Comments

Now we know...

[DrEldarion]

Methane? Ah ha, I've got it!

Cows are really aliens from Titan sent to observe us. The methane they, uh, "give off" is just a little air leak in their otherwise-perfect disguises.

Speed

[JohnWiney]

A fundamental issue, as I understamd it, is the speed of chemical reactions. Roughly speaking, chemical process speeds are related exponentially to temperature. Generally speaking, the temperatures on Titan are far to low to permit life processes anything like the sort we see on Earth. That isn't a definite "no", but any life forms would have to be radically different from anything on Earth.

Re:Speed

[RobertF]

Most likely, if there's any life it's by heat vents. They said Titan is geologically active, and appears to be erupting continuously. In that case, it's similar to life that exists in vents in the crust under the ocean. Those things do look other worldly, but I'd wager that its conceivable that a single-cell organism could develop by these geological hotspots.

Methane doesn't replace water.

[caveat]

While the methane jokes are just HI-larious, on a more serious/sci-nerd note:

Methane is a lot less likely to be the "solvent" for life as water is. Water has a lot of very unusual properties which are important factors in the biochemical reactions of life; the most important of these is its strong polar nature. The polarity of water is a, if not the (biochemists feel free to correct me, i'm synthetic org.), major factor in protein folding; the ability of water to dissolve ionic compounds is also vitally important, e.g. nerve function. Bottom line, a nonpolar organic solvent is a *lot* less likely, if not impossible, to support life.

Re:Methane doesn't replace water.

[Mr2cents]

But it still remains very interesting to study. All these problems you propose are valid, but the chemistry at those places could still be very complex, and the thing with life is, once it has started its' complexity will rise with the next generations.

Our experience life is, let's face it, laughable. We only have one genesis to work with. The premise of liquid water is solely based on Earth observations. I don't know about you, but at least I don't know about any holiday resort on Earth next to a liquid methane lake. there just aren't any.

If I hear about an energy source, complex carbon-based chemicals and a liquid to mix them, then, with an open mind, I think some emerging intelligence may occur after billions of years. Even if it is a freak accident, if you believe a complex system can exist for even a few hundred millions of years without one freak accident, then you're obviously not an engineer. Maybe it will not be life as we know it, but damnit Jim, it will be alive!

Methane ice worms living on Earth

[kevin777]

Maybe we should be looking for some life forms similar to these: Methane Ice Worms

Image here.

Text:

Methane clathrate deposits in the ocean floor have been found to be inhabited by polychaete worms of the species Hesiocaeca methanicola. The worms colonize the ice-methane solid and appear to survive by gleaning bacteria that in turn metabolize the clathrate. In 1997, Charles Fisher, professor of biology at Penn State, discovered this remarkable creature living on mounds of methane ice under half a mile of ocean on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico.