You know what really annoys the heck out of me. Is that scientists think that the planet has to have water etc. etc. etc. in order to have alien life on them. Well haven't they ever thought that alien life is much more advanced then us. So given that thought you would think the alien life could find ways to survive without water or they could import it in from another planet like here(earth) in order to live on that planet. That they are living on. Oh brother, why can't the scientists think about that.

Actually, scientists just think that for life like ours to have evolved, water would have to be present so that's what they look for. It's a matter of convergent inspection, we assume we would recognize signs of life if this life evolved under similar conditions to ours. I refer here to simpler life forms (not cities of aliens, the signs of which I think it would be hard to miss). Scientists agree that life could evolve in completely alien environments that don't use the same chemical processes that all life on this planet uses to create energy to live (i.e., the same basic principles, see http://www.bact.wisc.edu/Microtextbook/ind...rtid=48&page=1).
The short answer is we look for what we can anticipate because we have the best chance of finding it.

McKenna, your post reminded me of this article I recently read:

Snippet from article:

" World News
Times Online January 25, 2006

Freezing cold Earth-like planet is discovered
By Mark Henderson, Science Correspondent, for Times Online

The most Earth-like planet yet discovered beyond the solar system has been detected orbiting a distant star, boosting the chances that life exists elsewhere in the galaxy.

The icy, rocky world is just five times larger than our own, making it the smallest and most similar to Earth of all the 160 "exoplanets" around other stars that astronomers have found so far.

The planet, which has been given the unglamorous name OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb, is considered an unlikely candidate for life, as it has a surface temperature of -220C (-364F) that precludes the presence of the liquid water thought necessary to sustain organisms.

Full article found here:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2009914,00.html

I see your point.. what if water was POISON to them or they simply do not require it? I know that's far fetched but "how do they absolutely know?"

Scientists only recently found a "Lost World" on our OWN planet. As reported on one site here dated February 7th, 2006 : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4688000.stm

If they are that slow with discovering our OWN planet, I am positive they are light years behind understanding life or if there WAS life on OTHER planets

McKenna, all I can say is... Let the scientists decide which planets, and conditions would be suitable for life. They have a much better understanding of biology than you, and would know what is the best place to look. They don't say that water bearing planets are the only ones that will harbor life, they say say it is the most probable, and it is, based on Earth science...

I can`t be more agree with you McKenna. I mean just because life on Earth needs water that doesn`t mean that life on other planets needs it ! Also just look at some of the microbacterias we have here on Earth they don`t need water to survive. Here on Earth life in water was what devoloped to the animals we have right now. But on other planets the same can happen on land and maybe some alien specie out there think`s like this: life in water? no that isn`t possible they would only drown right away.

One more thing. Is it possible that the scientists only says this to let us all belive that we are alone in the universe ?

i think that there could be aliens that need completely different things than earth life like mabe they breathe carbon dioxide instead of oxygen...or mabe they need an extremly hot or cold enviroment to survive...things along those lines

Name one.
While there are bacteria that survive for long periods without liquid water (some as spores and there was even a recent article about some bacteria not in spore form reanimated after something like 38k years, once water was added) all terrestrial life needs liquid water for the chemical reactions of metabolism. The extremophiles of which you speak are different in that they can survive without photosynthesis as a part of their food-chain (just one example) Some extremophiles actually use hydrogen sulfide as a food source.

Scientists look for the familiar because we can detect the signatures of life from a great distance.

Where did you get that idea from? What scientists think that?



Who says they havent?



As far as I'm aware, bacteria still has cytoplasm, and that cytoplasm is composed majoritarily of water... Water, aswell, is necessary for many cellular functions...

There's a whole new world here on our planet. What do you mean by that. Like did they find a lost city or something. Explain.

Go to the main page of UM.

Scroll down to the article "Lost World."

I thought of that idea. And I don't know any names of scientists that think that life on other planets need water in order to survive. I'm not saying that the scientists haven't thought of the alien life might not need water etc. etc. in order to survive. But I think they should leave that as a possibility. It's kinda like looking at the big pic. You know not only looking at life on other planets needing water etc. in order to survive. But keeping in mind that life on other planets might not need what we need here on earth in order to survive. Because they might be more advanced then us. Therefore they would beable to think of other ways to get what they need in order to survive.

ok will do. thanks.

life on Earth is based on the building block element carbon with water as the solvent in which bio-chemical reactions take place.

Given their relative abundance and usefulness in sustaining life it has long been assumed that life forms elsewhere in the universe will also utilize these basic components.

However, other elements and solvents might be capable of providing a basis for life.

Silicon is usually considered the most likely alternative to carbon, though this remains improbable.

Life forms based in ammonia rather than water are also considered, though less frequently.

Nor can the possibility be rejected that a completely new substance may be found that may react in a similar way to carbon or that wholly unique, non-chemical life-forms may possibly flourish through exotic physics.

Along with a building block element and a solvent, life also requires an energy source.

Energy from a parent star is the most obvious source for extraterrestrial life but this is not the only possibility, as the example of terrestrial extremophiles shows.

Geothermal energy from a planet's interior, for instance, may drive sub-surface or oceanic life, while tidal flexing (e.g., for bodies orbiting a gas giant) provides another possible motor to sustain living things.

The scientific study of the possible biochemical basis for extraterrestrial life is often called xenobiology.

Extraterrestrial life

Please take a minute and do some research....

Scientists do wonder about other mediums that could support life.

Read this article please.
Water and Life.

Sounds an awful lot like Europa to me!

I wanna go there.

agreed, though I'd be happy just to visit our moon... weighing 33.5 lbs would be cool...

Good article! I think the final sentence is quite telling:



Scientists are actively looking at various possibilities for not only the location of life, various energy sources, but also for differing bio-chemical mechanisms for life (as pointed out by Pax Unum). I don't see a close minded attitude from scientists as regards this subject at all.

I still remember with awe when Carl Sagan pointed out that all of the heavier elements in our bodies (and the universe) were forged in the heart of a star and blasted out into the galaxy in some long forgotten super nova, to coalesce and accrete into our solar system, and us .

We are star stuff!

We are the universe looking at itself through eyes created by itself.

I don't need a god. Reality is enough to keep me amazed.

Actually, there is a a philosophy/religion that encompasses this manner of thinking.

That was the name of the article(s) out there for this incident.. Did you read the BBC link I provided? BBC was not the only news media that called it a "Lost World" I also saw it on TV on CNN when it came out about this.

The "certain" Kangaroo they were pictured with was adorable! - I am still trying to find a pic of it.. it is not pictured on the BBC link but does mention it.

Thank you Lilly. I have only read the first section so far, but it looks like good reading.

I appreciate the link.

hmmmmmmmmm maybe its because... no it couldnt be... maybe its because every single life form on earth needs water! wow there is an idea but i understand how you would have much better and realistic ideas than the worlds leading scientists....

The majority of us are all talking about life evolving on the planets out there and gaining intelligence, whilst questioning the requirement for water.

Is it not possible that planets that have an oppotunity to harbor life in fact evolve themselves, thus creating water as a natural resource on their surfaces?

I very much doubt I will have an understanding of the chemistry and such for how water actually formed on Earth. ok... I have the basics of held within magma, erupted and steam entered the environment, cleansed the poisonous atmosphere etc...., but would this not occur in the evolution of a planet, before the evolution of life (or in fact the beginning) could occur.

The problems that I guess would hinder life is that magma would obviously be hotter than the majority of material on planets, but in the example of Pluto, once the magma receeds everything will freeze.

The problem for mercury is that water will be permanently steam (assuming that temperatures allow steam there).

How easy is it to create H2O? I mean I can create CO2 no problem and (trying to remember Chemistry lessons) NH4 after many beers.
What aids the creation of water?

I guess I iwll have to do some research on the net for this

TC
R47

Well, the formation of water on Earth has to do with the chemistry involved between hydrogen and oxygen. Here's a good site for this information. The basic 'building blocks' for the formation of water are fairly common, so is carbon, which is the basis for life as we know it here on Earth. The formation of a planetary atmosphere, and the formation of water actually would have to occur before the advent of life, at least the type of life we have here on Earth.

Many thanks for the site. Will print and digest over the weekend

Yeah agree.... Basically my arguement is that the chance of water forming on a planet is more likely than life, so if conditions are not right for water to form, then the conditions irrespective of the environment would be too hostile for life.

Of course this is just opinion, and to be honest I really hope that it is found that water is not required, because the rate we`re going on the ol` Earth there is less and less useable water one could argue.

TC
R47

is that it in the pic


btw found it in yahoo news( http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/sc/...HNlYwNzc25hdg-- ) link to a bunch of new species