MetaFilter posts tagged with Space and life

So high, so low, so many things to know.

zarq — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 14:20:09 -0800

Looking for Some Waist Heat

cthuljew — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:31:38 -0800

A five-part series on the ultimate limit on technology, and how that limit could help us find other civilizations: 1 2 3 4 5 [via]

"This is the best time. The next 2 or 3 thousand years will be fantastic!"

zarq — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 23:11:31 -0800

In 2005, the Discovery Channel aired Alien Worlds, a fictional documentary based on Wayne Douglas Barlowe's graphic novel, Expedition: Being an Account in Words and Artwork of the 2358 A.D. Voyage to Darwin IV." Depicting mankind's first robotic mission to an extrasolar planet that could support life, the show drew from NASA's Origins Program, the NASA/JPL PlanetQuest Mission, and ESA's Darwin Project. It was primarily presented through CGI, but included interviews from a variety of NASA scientists and other experts, including Stephen Hawking, Michio Kaku, John Craig Venter and Jack Horner. Oh, and George Lucas, too. Official site. Previously on MeFi. Related Documentaries: (Background) National Geographic: Extraterrestrial (Narrated by Michael Dorn.) National Geographic: Alien Worlds Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

Looking for life in all the wrong places

Brandon Blatcher — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 18:31:02 -0800

Any Sufficiently Advanced Civilization is Indistinguishable from Nature.

"And the Cadillac of rovers is not far behind...."

Fizz — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 07:14:58 -0800

Martian Life's Last Stand in the Trenches? "Scientists have found water-bearing deposits on Mars that are out of step with what was happening elsewhere on the planet, raising the prospect that the sites could have hosted Martian life's last stand."

NASA Scientist Finds Extraterrestrial Bacteria In Meteorite

Surfin' Bird — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 14:29:51 -0800

Dr. Hoover has discovered evidence of microfossils similar to Cyanobacteria in freshly fractured slices of the interior surfaces of the Alais, Ivuna, and Orgueil CI1 carbonaceous meteorites. The scientist's conclusion is that the fossilized bacteria are not Earthly contaminants but are the fossilized remains of living organisms which lived in the parent bodies of these meteors, e.g. comets, moons, and other astral bodies. The implications are that life is everywhere, and that life on Earth may have come from other planets.

Let's try to avoid creating something with "molecular acid for blood," shall we?

zarq — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 09:36:16 -0800

Dmitar Sasselov is an astrophysicist, Director of the Origins of Life Initiative at Harvard and a co-investigator of the Kepler space telescope project to find Earth-like planets around the Cygnus constellation and discover extraterrestrial life. But no matter how successful the Kepler project may be, it still won't answer the most fundamental questions of astrobiology: How diverse is life in the universe? If alien life exists, will it have Earthly DNA and proteins? Or will it run on something else? So Dr. Sasselov has decided to collaborate with two synthetic biologists, asking them to create a life form based on mirror-image versions of what we know as the essential building blocks of living things on Earth. From the Wired Article: ...go to the synthetic biologists Jack Szostak and George Church. Ask them to create a life-form that runs on an operating system different from our own, based on mirror-image versions of earthly proteins and DNA. Let these alien cells grow and mutate, and see how they survive. If it worked, those new cells—Church called them “mirror life”—could answer one of the deepest questions about the origin of life, not just here on Earth but everywhere in the universe. They might also open up new avenues of discovery in materials science, fuel synthesis, and pharmaceutical research. On the down side, though, mirror life wouldn’t have any predators or diseases to limit its reproduction. They would have to keep an eye on that.
In July, Dr. Sasselov's TED talk (also linked above) was widely misinterpreted by the press. Kepler space telescope: previously on Metafilter. Also, this post is tangentially related.

All these worlds are yours, except Europa. Attempt no landing there.

KokuRyu — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:39:37 -0800

Are plasma crystals alive? Cosmic dust can, in the presence of plasma, creates formations known as plasma crystals. An international team of researchers published a study in the Aug.14, 2007, issue of the New Journal of Physics (PDF here, abstract here) that indicates that these crystals may be more sophisticated than anyone realized. In simulations involving cosmic dust, the researchers witnessed the formation of plasma crystals displaying some of the elementary characteristics of life -- DNA-like structure, autonomous behavior, reproduction and evolution. Could extraterrestrial life be made of corkscrew-shaped particles of interstellar dust? Intriguing new (circa 2007) evidence of life-like structures that form from inorganic substances in space have been revealed in the New Journal of Physics. The findings hint at the possibility that life beyond earth may not necessarily use carbon-based molecules as its building blocks. They also point to a possible new explanation for the origin of life on earth. The concept of interstellar dust-based life was described in the 1957 SF book, The Black Cloud, by Fred Hoyle. Hoyle was also responsible for the term Big Bang, though Hoyle himself did not believe the Big Bang theory. In an ironic plot twist that would foreshadow Hoyle's stance on panspermia (more here and here), the cloud expresses surprise that intelligent life is capable of forming on planets.

Enceladus

homunculus — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:52:15 -0800

Source Of Geysers On Saturn's Moon Enceladus May Be Underground Water. Earlier this year the Cassini spacecraft detected organic material in the geysers of Enceladus. The question now is, how's the fishing?

"Survivor: Extremophile Edition" Results Show

saulgoodman — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:45:35 -0800

Is life possible even in the coldest depths of space? If so, this tough little guy has long been thought to be a good candidate. Now, finally, analysis of the Tardigrades (a.k.a. "water bears") exposed to open space as part of the TARDIS project is finally complete. So what's the verdict? Epic win. Here's the abstract and links to the complete results. (Previously here.)

Is life on Mars a good sign for us?

rongorongo — Mon, 12 May 2008 08:11:33 -0800

The "Great Filter" is a hypothetical barrier to explain why civilisations are so unlikely to progress to the point of inter-stellar colonisation that we have not encountered any in 40 years of looking. Maybe humanity has already negotiated the filter - as some massive evolutionary improbability - or perhaps it lies in our future as an almost-certain threat to our existence? We should hold our breath as we look for evidence of life on Mars.

Spirit's Swan Song?

Chinese Jet Pilot — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 11:08:18 -0800

Real robot drama is happening on Mars today. Spirit, racing for her life to find shelter before winter, injured and underpowered after four years of hard labor, may have made her most significant find yet. The broken foot she's dragged behind her for the past two years unexpectedly uncovered evidence of a once-wet Mars with conditions theoretically hospitable for primitive life.

A home away from home?

goodnewsfortheinsane — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 14:53:41 -0800

Spacefilter: ESA telescope detects planet 20 lightyears away with a temperature between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, dubbed "most Earth-like planet yet."

Life suspected, WMDs probable

borkingchikapa — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 18:02:33 -0800

ESA scientists announced that a giant sea is hidden under the Martian surface. With discoveries like this and weird photos like this, how long can it be before we find conclusive proof of extraterrestrial life?

NewsFilter - More evidence of life on mars

sourbrew — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 15:03:26 -0800

Life - a strong case for life on mars was presented sunday

Germs from Jupiter? Viruses from Venus?

carobe — Thu, 02 Aug 2001 12:02:04 -0800

Germs from Jupiter? Viruses from Venus? Nope, just live space-borne bacteria discovered floating around Earth. "Although the bugs from space are similar to bacteria on Earth, the scientists said the living cells found in samples of air from the edge of the planet's atmosphere are too far away to have come from Earth." (via waldo.net)

First Evidence of life coming from space.

stbalbach — Mon, 30 Jul 2001 07:30:51 -0800

First Evidence of life coming from space. One third a ton a day raining down, according to these researchers.