Waspie_Dwarf Posted September 10, 2012 #1 Share Posted September 10, 2012 More planets could harbour life New computer models suggest there could be many more habitable planets out there than previously thought.Scientists have developed models to help them identify planets in far-away solar systems that are capable of supporting life. Estimates of habitable planet numbers have been based on the likelihood of them having surface water. But a new model allows scientists to identify planets with underground water kept liquid by planetary heat. The research was presented at the British Science Festival in Aberdeen. Water is fundamental for life as we know it. Read more... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galilei Posted September 10, 2012 #2 Share Posted September 10, 2012 Fascinating! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hasina Posted September 10, 2012 #3 Share Posted September 10, 2012 (edited) The view that life can only be supported by liquid water is quite limiting to the idea of life. There could be creatures made of silicon that evolved naturally, or gaseous creatures that feed on nothing more then stray atoms. But, I can understand looking at these places first, we'll recognize these creatures easier then we would anything else. Edited September 10, 2012 by Hasina 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted September 10, 2012 Author #4 Share Posted September 10, 2012 The view that life can only be supported by liquid water is quite limiting to the idea of life. There could be creatures made of silicon that evolved naturally, or gaseous creatures that feed on nothing more then stray atoms. But, I can understand looking at these places first, we'll recognize these creatures easier then we would anything else. And there could be an invisible pixie at the bottom of my garden... but it is unlikely. Silicon based life is a nice science fiction idea, but the reality is that it is virtually impossible to make the complex molecules necessary for life with silicon. Carbon forms complex molecules extremely easily, there are more organic (carbon based) molecules in the universe than there are inorganic. The properties of water are also unique. The likelihood of life being able to form where there is no liquid water is vanishingly small. When scientists say that water is probably necessary for life they do so not because they are limited in the way they think, they do so because they understand the chemistry and the limitations THAT imposes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hasina Posted September 10, 2012 #5 Share Posted September 10, 2012 (edited) And there could be an invisible pixie at the bottom of my garden... but it is unlikely. Silicon based life is a nice science fiction idea, but the reality is that it is virtually impossible to make the complex molecules necessary for life with silicon. Carbon forms complex molecules extremely easily, there are more organic (carbon based) molecules in the universe than there are inorganic. The properties of water are also unique. The likelihood of life being able to form where there is no liquid water is vanishingly small. When scientists say that water is probably necessary for life they do so not because they are limited in the way they think, they do so because they understand the chemistry and the limitations THAT imposes. It's basically the same argument everyone uses to support the idea of alien life in the first place; the Universe is a vast, vast place, just because the limitations are there doesn't mean it's impossible. As I do agree with you, carbon molecules, the ones we call organic, are just the more obvious choices because they combine easier with each other. I'll concede the point that silicon life is the stuff of science fiction, no doubt there. But extremophiles were the things of science fiction once as well, anaerobic that don't require oxygen to reproduce, or alkaliphile's who have optimal reproduction in pH's of 9 to 11; true, these are all carbon based organisms, but they show the amazing aptitude for life itself. If there's a sliver of a chance any molecule bonding like carbon or similar to it, I bet it might have happened somewhere at sometime. Will we ever find it? Probably not since it's probably even rarer then carbon life. Edited September 10, 2012 by Hasina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Greenman Posted September 10, 2012 #6 Share Posted September 10, 2012 I am going to toss this question out while some brains are looking. Could life exist as plasma? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hasina Posted September 11, 2012 #7 Share Posted September 11, 2012 Possibly, but I think the question is, would we recognize it at all as life? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Greenman Posted September 11, 2012 #8 Share Posted September 11, 2012 What is the criteria for something to be life. 1. It reproduces 2. It metabolizes What else makes something alive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus Der Box Skeptisch Posted September 11, 2012 #9 Share Posted September 11, 2012 Arsenic based is highly likely also. More experiments need to be done but the idea almost became a proven reality from a natural source in California. Though thelady scientist who discovered them is under intense peer review/ scrutiny by the scientific community. We will wait to see how it progresses. She almost threw her career away by publishing too soon. Pretty sure it was arsenic based may have been sulphur based but I'm very confident that my memory serves me right. Iirc arsenic can be interchangeable with carbon molecules... but deadly to us carbon based.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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