Video: Extreme Living: On Earth and Other Worlds
Life thrives in Earth's harshest places. Could it exist elsewhere?


View: Source: Space.com

Thats what i always wondered. How hot do they say venus would be? Well i doubt the whole planet is gunna be that hot. And on earth there's animals that thrive at underwater heat vents which are way hot.

damn, I have to download apple quicktime which Idont want to do

The surface temperature on Venus is close to 500°C, this is hot enough to melt lead and tin. There is virtually no difference between day and night time temperatures.

Hydrothermal vents (black smokers) can vent water at up to 400°C. However the life is found on the chimneys around these vents not in the super heated water itself so the temperature is considerably lower.

There is a major difference between Earth and these extreme worlds. Most of Earth is perfect for life to thrive. The Earthis literally covered in life. A small amount of it has evolved to adapt to the harsh environments that exist here. On the other worlds in our solar system life would have to start and thrive in conditions which are entirely harsh. Just because life can be found in harsh environments on Earth it does not necessarily follow that it could get a foothold on these other worlds.

Ya well i think it can. What if there's vents on venus that spew super cold stuff? Probly not but we wont know until we go there so until then i'll keep thinking it could happen. Although i know it probably hasnt.

We won't be going there any time in the next few aeons, I should suspect. A measured surface temperature that is twice as hot as your oven gets, and a nasty, noxious, acidic, metal-eating sulfer laden atmosphere would make that a somewhat unattractive place to go.

"Vents" on the surface of of a planet tend to spew internal material from deep inside the lower layers of planetary surfaces. By nature, these materials tend to be hotter than the surface materials (to wit, lava and such really nasty things that spew out of the earth's interior). The idea of super cold stuff coming out of vents on Venus is rather unliklely, and even if it was so, by virtue of some miraculous mechanism that science has no idea about, when it encountered 900+ degrees F, what would be observed is an explosive reaction as the cold material vaporized in the super hot atmosphere.

Venus is a nasty place, alot more like the Judeo-Christian concept of hell than any place where any known life could even begin to develop, let alone thrive.

Point of Interest:

HCL, or hydrochloric acid has a pH of about 2, about the same as H2SO4, sulfulic acid.

What is H. pylori?

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a type of bacteria. Researchers believe that H. pylori is responsible for the majority of peptic ulcers.

H. pylori infection is common in the United States: About 20 percent of people under 40 years old and half of those over 60 years have it. Most infected people, however, do not develop ulcers. Why H. pylori does not cause ulcers in every infected person is not known. Most likely, infection depends on characteristics of the infected person, the type of H. pylori, and other factors yet to be discovered.

Researchers are not certain how people contract H. pylori, but they think it may be through food or water.

Researchers have found H. pylori in the saliva of some infected people, so the bacteria may also spread through mouth-to-mouth contact such as kissing.

How does H. pylori cause a peptic ulcer?

H. pylori weakens the protective mucous coating of the stomach and duodenum, which allows acid to get through to the sensitive lining beneath. Both the acid and the bacteria irritate the lining and cause a sore, or ulcer.

H. pylori is able to survive in stomach acid because it secretes enzymes that neutralize the acid. This mechanism allows H. pylori to make its way to the "safe" area—the protective mucous lining. Once there, the bacterium's spiral shape helps it burrow through the lining.
Source: NDIC