Slashdot Mirror
Earth May Harbor a Shadow Biosphere of Alien Life
An anonymous reader sends us to Cosmos Magazine for a speculative article arguing that a 'shadow biosphere' may exist on Earth, unrelated to life as we know it. If such non-carbon-based life were found here at home, it would alter the odds for how common life is elsewhere in the universe, astrobiologists say. "The tools and experiments researchers use to look for new forms of life — such as those on missions to Mars — would not detect biochemistries different from our own, making it easy for scientists to miss alien life, even if [it] was under their noses. ... Scientists are looking in places where life isn't expected — for example, in areas of extreme heat, cold, salt, radiation, dryness, or contaminated streams and rivers. [One researcher] is particularly interested in places that are heavily contaminated with arsenic, which, he suggests, might support forms of life that use arsenic the way life as we know it uses phosphorus."
It's life, Jim. But not as we know it.
Or the researcher is secretly needing arsenic to do his more brilliant colleague in the old Victorian-era way, having learnt from too many Agatha Christie novels.
After a lengthy, one-sided dialogue with the nearest rock, I conclude that your theory is false.
Always going forward, 'cause we can't find reverse.
After many zen practitioners' lengthy, two-way dialogues with rocks near and far, your test criteria seem to be flawed.
As the Zen practicioners are indistinguishable from day-dreamers such as my 9 year old son, your refutiation is meaningless.
Always going forward, 'cause we can't find reverse.
I have to question the standards of a Wikipedia article entitled "Life" that ends with a section on life insurance that makes up 1/8th of the article.
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