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Acetylene Based Life on Titan?
mindpixel writes "Astrobiology Magazine's Leslie Mullen has a fascinating interview with funky science dude David Grinspoon about the possibility that there may exist a whole new biology on Titan where the extreme cold slows normally explosive reactions to a biologically useful pace." From the article: "What's really new in our paper is that we go into the question of energy sources. If there's life there, what's it going to eat? What kind of food is there? And it turns out there's abundant food because of all this photochemistry in the upper atmosphere, where methane is being turned into other organic molecules. Some of those organic molecules are very energy-rich, and one that we consider in the paper is acetylene. We know it's being made in the atmosphere, we know it's raining down on the surface, and it's been detected at the surface with the Huygens probe. We calculated that, if acetylene is reacting with the hydrogen gas to turn it back into methane, quite a bit of energy is being released. So that's our basis for saying there is something to eat on Titan. We don't know if there are any customers, but there's something on the menu."
Any intelligent life form that eats farts should be feared. That is all.
"I drank what?" -Socrates
This is certainly an interesting idea, and one of the more unusual proposed.
:-)
Didn't Bush's new space exploration plan call for us to visit there, soon?
Ignore Alien Orders
Now if we could only be successful in finding intelligent life in Washington DC
Garry AKA -Phoenix- Rising Above the Flames
Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes
Excited missionaries are pulling out their cold weather gear.
Well, either that, or your desk's an absolute mess......hmmm, I don't seem to be fulfilling my duties as a lifeform....
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Life is anything that dies when you stomp on it.
Oh, no! You have walked into the slavering fangs of a lurking grue!
By that definition, a Dell PC powered by a solar cell and programmed to autonomously surf the Dell website and plug in a valid credit card number and its shipping address would qualify.
I think you forgot: 4. Has a sense of humor. Cause life without a sense of humor isn't any kind of life at all. (Sad observation: This post isn't very funny. So shoot me).
Acius the unfamous
We should probably make sure they don't find out about the Acetylene genocide going on at every mechanic's garage and construction site every day.
I'm assuming the warning covers the rest of the solar system. So those little black rectangles can kiss our carbon based rear ends.
Also, members of the Titan version of Slashdot are probably saying, "I for one welcome our monkey-based overlords."
So what you are saying is that humans are the means by which dell computers reproduce.
How many overlords does this make? Doesn't it get a bit tiring every time you turn around we have welcome new overlords like those giant ants, black monoliths, 900 foot Jesus, giant squid, or even intelligent doormats. C'mon slashdot. Just stick with one overlord and we'll all be happy toiling away in the gallium arsnide mines, the selenium tarpits, and Wal-Marts. Hold on there's a knock at the door.
I'm back. The delivery man gave me this package. It had this cool hat in it. It's a gelatinous blue with tentacles. It looked just like the one he was wearing. Except his was pulsating. I'm going to try it on.
I FOR ONE WELCOME OUR NEW ACETYLENE BASED LIFEFORM TITAN OVERLORDS. TIME TO DELIVER MORE HATS.
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"