Slashdot Mirror
Microbes Found in Earth's Deep Ocean Might Grow on Saturn's Moon Enceladus (theverge.com)
Life as we know it needs three things: energy, water and chemistry. Saturn's icy moon Enceladus has them all, as NASA spacecraft Cassini confirmed in the final years of its mission to that planet. From a report: Scientists have successfully cultivated a few of these tiny organisms in the lab under the same conditions that are thought to exist on the distant moon, opening up the possibility that life might be lurking under the world's surface. Enceladus is one of the most intriguing places in the Solar System since it has many crucial ingredients needed for life to thrive. For one, it has lots of water. NASA's Cassini spacecraft -- which explored the Saturn system from 2004 to 2017 -- found that plumes of gas and particles erupt from the south pole of Enceladus, and these geysers stem from a global liquid water ocean underneath the moon's crust. Scientists think that there may be hot vents in this ocean, too -- cracks in the sea floor where heated rock mingles with the frigid waters. This mixing of hot and cold material seems to be creating a soup of chemical compounds that might support life.
"All these worlds are yours, except Europa."
And Enceladus, it seems....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
I may be coming in from left field with this, but maybe it is time to use that phrase Life as we know it
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
Maybe it is time we start using the phrase Life as we know it
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
Life as we know it need one thing: a starting point of Earth. Everything else remains conjecture.
I wonder if it's tasty.
If a world has liquid water, and enough energy of some kind to produce underwater vents, life is essentially inevitable. Now, it'd be simple life to be sure, but four billion years ago life here was pretty simple too.
Come to think of it, it's pretty simple now as well.
I have been saying for years that ANY planet with a large body of liquid water is pretty much guaranteed to have life. There is simply too much varied, insane, completely-cut-off-from-the-sun life in our oceans that it's simply ridiculous to believe there isn't something similar on another planet or large moon.
And the discovery of even a single non-terrestrial microbe swimming around completely alone on another planet/moon in the solar system is definitive proof that there is life elsewhere in the universe and that we are not alone in this universe.
> Life as we know it needs three things: energy, water and chemistry.
Yeah, it would be kind of hard to skip the chemistry once you have energy + atoms...
It might sound like an ad, but I guess it's worth mentioning this to the particular audience: look at the data. An interesting starting point for this could be a book where you learn to interpret and analyse stuff on your own: https://bigmachine.io/products... .
I might flap my ears and fly. I *might*. But unlikely.
Subject says it all.
It's one thing to take some extremophiles that descended from more cushy conditions on Earth, and get them to grow in a similar environment to the one they evolved to match here. But they had the luxury of evolving from things which first arose in more hospitable situations.
It's another thing to start the life process out from scratch. At the moment, we don't know how likely that is or isn't. One thing the Earth had going for it is really great conditions for a long period of time, and a large scale, so lots of random chances to do whatever-it-is that has to get done. Time and scale both seem likely to help.
For all we know, Earth is a fluke, and life is a statistical rarity, existing on only a few lucky planets in an average galaxy. Or for all we know, it happens almost everywhere conditions work out to support it, but if so, we haven't found any signs of exoplanetary intelligence yet. (Of course we haven't looked very much, either).
I want there to be microbial life found elsewhere in the solar system, but I would not bet in favor of it. I might - barely - bet in favor of past life on a system like Mars which went extinct when conditions there took a turn for the worse.
...
are thought to
the possibility that
might be
Scientists think that
there may be
l seems to be
might support
Just quoting.
Can't we just transfer life from earth to the moon they discovered. Then during milions of years, the moon would become source of new lifeforms...
Many people believe you. You're all wrong.
https://vimeo.com/253700958
It's one thing to take some extremophiles that descended from more cushy conditions on Earth, and get them to grow in a similar environment to the one they evolved to match here. But they had the luxury of evolving from things which first arose in more hospitable situations.
It's another thing to start the life process out from scratch. At the moment, we don't know how likely that is or isn't. One thing the Earth had going for it is really great conditions for a long period of time, and a large scale, so lots of random chances to do whatever-it-is that has to get done. Time and scale both seem likely to help.
For all we know, Earth is a fluke, and life is a statistical rarity, existing on only a few lucky planets in an average galaxy. Or for all we know, it happens almost everywhere conditions work out to support it, but if so, we haven't found any signs of exoplanetary intelligence yet. (Of course we haven't looked very much, either).
I want there to be microbial life found elsewhere in the solar system, but I would not bet in favor of it. I might - barely - bet in favor of past life on a system like Mars which went extinct when conditions there took a turn for the worse.
Almost exactly what I came to say. Life much more likely starts in mild friendly conditions, and if it thrives some of it evolves to take on the extremes.
What is really surprising is bacteria has been found growing in space, on the outside of the International Space Station. Is it possible that our exploration of space could inadvertently be leaving a trail of life in its entirety, or at least highly developed constituent parts? If it doesn't yet exist, Earth might become the origin of extraterrestrial life.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/11/mars-soil-earthworm-agriculture-science-spd/
http://www.iflscience.com/space/cosmonauts-find-live-bacteria-on-the-hull-of-the-iss/
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/12/1219_TVsugarmeteors.html
Those are the two minimal requirements for life. You have to have some means of storing "genetic information" and copying it. And there has to be an energy difference that life can harness to do meaningful work. Does Enceladus have enough of an energy gradient to actually drive chemical reactions?
'You in the red shirt!'
'What part of Phasers on stun did you not understand??'
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
The hydrothermal ocean vents with extreme pressure and no light where we call life "extremophiles" are commonly thought to be where life began. In reality, we're the extremophiles -- nature's weirdest experiments that haven't died yet, living in the harshly varied surface conditions instead of in the safety of the unchanging depths of the ocean. The so-called extremophiles are the easiest form of life to develop.
This space intentionally left blank
A Princeton-led research group has discovered (http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S16/13/72E53/index.xml?section=newsreleases) an isolated community of bacteria nearly two miles underground that derives all of its energy from the decay of radioactive rocks rather than from sunlight. According to members of the team, the finding suggests life might exist in similarly extreme conditions even on other worlds.
The hydrothermal ocean vents with extreme pressure and no light where we call life "extremophiles" are commonly thought to be where life began
Warm waters, even at deep ocean pressures, are conditions that would be considered mild and friendly.
Does your definition of "friendly" include the presence of free oxygen?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I was thinking the same thing. GP's premise seems to be based on the assumption that the Earth has always been how it is now. I can think of one pretty major thing where that definitely isn't the case.
In fact, the definition of extremophile is largely subjective. They could say the same about us: how do they cope with the cold, and all that poison in the air?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
[random natural property on Earth] has the same basic elements [we _think_ since we have no proof other than pictures] of another [planet/moon/asteroid] that humanity will never make it to! Isn't science great?
Worthless tripe. Pale blue dot. All there is, all there was, all there ever will be.
Frammin' on the jim-jam, frippin' at the krotz!
Does your definition of "friendly" include the presence of free oxygen?
Not necessarily. More a place where the building blocks can come together (warm enough, calm enough) without immediately being torn apart.
You dodged the obvious trap, but "enough" is still somewhat subjective. Organisms that live around hydrothermal vents probably wouldn't find the surface of the Mediterranean "warm enough", though plenty of algae love it.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
They may both be 'warm enough' in the sense of the beginning of life can span such a range. In the context of the universe, or even the solar system, the temperature range from near hydrothermal vents to the surface of the Med is quite narrow.