The Caspian Hare Posted April 29, 2017 #1 Share Posted April 29, 2017 Science fiction has long imagined alien worlds inhabited by silicon-based life, such as the rock-eating Horta from the original Star Trek series. Now, scientists have for the first time shown that nature can evolve to incorporate silicon into carbon-based molecules, the building blocks of life on Earth. As for the implications these findings might have for alien chemistry on distant worlds, "my feeling is that if a human being can coax life to build bonds between silicon and carbon, nature can do it too," said the study's senior author Frances Arnold, a chemical engineer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The scientists detailed their findings recently in the journal Science. Carbon is the backbone of every known biological molecule. Life on Earth is based on carbon, likely because each carbon atom can form bonds with up to four other atoms simultaneously. This quality makes carbon well-suited to form the long chains of molecules that serve as the basis for life as we know it, such as proteins and DNA. [The Search for Life on Mars in Pictures] Still, researchers have long speculated that alien life could have a completely different chemical basis than life on Earth. http://www.livescience.com/58727-silicon-based-alien-life-possible.html 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bison Posted April 30, 2017 #2 Share Posted April 30, 2017 One way that silicon life might develop is to base itself on long, silicon-oxygen-silicon, chain-like molecules, with methyl (CH3) radicals linked to the silicon atoms. Such molecules are known as silicones. Due to their ability to withstand heat, such molecules might allow life to exist in planets considered too hot for life as we know it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Guitar Posted April 30, 2017 #3 Share Posted April 30, 2017 If this were possible, and it may well be, and we stumbled onto it, would we recognize it as life or a rock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarMountainKid Posted April 30, 2017 #4 Share Posted April 30, 2017 Perhaps this will develop into the metamorphosis of biology and computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalojack Posted April 30, 2017 #5 Share Posted April 30, 2017 Could be what is eating the tires on the Mars Rover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bison Posted May 1, 2017 #6 Share Posted May 1, 2017 (edited) If silicon-based life was based on silicones, it would probably seem, variously, more like a liquid, gel, or rubber, than rock. Not too different from the our skin, flesh, and bodily fluids. Edited May 1, 2017 by bison added information Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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