lets discuss compounds besides h2o life could thrive on

[th3shameless]

lately I've been reading up on venus a lot, and stumbled across a few articles that talk about the possibility of microbial life in venus' clouds. The main argument against this however was the lack of water and oxygen. which i don't get. to me it seems so close-minded to assume all life everywhere absolutely needs water. I don't see why sulfer based life on venus couldn't or methane based life on titan couldn't exist. Life just seems too opportunistic to think that What are your thoughts?

[magnemoe]

More of an problem is the lack of of other stuff where life could be generated off.

Titan might be an better alternative for non water based life however it would still use carbon. Downside with titan is that in -150 you would not get very energetic life if you got something other than single cell.

[NGTOne]

More of an problem is the lack of of other stuff where life could be generated off.

Titan might be an better alternative for non water based life however it would still use carbon. Downside with titan is that in -150 you would not get very energetic life if you got something other than single cell.

I'll grant that's true - but even single cells would be a massive step forward. If other life (even very simple life) exists elsewhere in our solar system, who's to say that our universe isn't teeming with it?

[baracksimposter]

I heard the silicon based life is plausible somewhere, cant remember where i heard it though...

[PakledHostage]

I heard the silicon based life is plausible somewhere, cant remember where i heard it though...

Star Trek, The Crystalline Entity?

[VintageXP]

There is also Arsenic based life, with is incredible. Somehow a kind of bacteria found a way to use arsenic in it's DNA, instead of phosphorus.

[magnemoe]

I'll grant that's true - but even single cells would be a massive step forward. If other life (even very simple life) exists elsewhere in our solar system, who's to say that our universe isn't teeming with it?

True, single cell life would how we look at the universe.

Europa and the other ice moons might be the best bet however it would be water based life.

Now the ice moons raises another exiting opportunity. Cells are captured by the ice and is transferred close to the surface. the ice is hit by an impact and this throw out a loot of ice with the moons weak gravity. It might hit other moons and survive the impact or even be sent in towards earth or out in interstellar space.

[PakledHostage]

There is also Arsenic based life, with is incredible.

You are probably referring to the NASA announcement of the discovery of the microbe strain GFAJ-1. The microbe was believed to use arsenic in place of phosphorous, but there has been plenty of further research since that first announcement questioning the validity of the discovery.

[VintageXP]

You are probably referring to the NASA announcement of the discovery of the microbe strain GFAJ-1. The microbe was believed to use arsenic in place of phosphorous, but there has been plenty of further research since that first announcement questioning the validity of the discovery.

Probably. I read it in a magazine some time ago. It didn't mention NASA though.

[Jimbo Jambo]

I heard the silicon based life is plausible somewhere, cant remember where i heard it though...

Silicon occupies the same column as carbon on the periodic table and can form many similar molecules, which is why it seems so promising and is so popular in sci-fi, but it's not a perfect analog to carbon. Take silicon dioxide for instance, the silicon analog to the waste gas carbon dioxide. Also known as silica, silicon dioxide is a solid at room temperature and is what makes up quartz and glass. It's basically a rock. CO2 is also soluble in water whereas SO2 doesn't dissolve at all. That, combined with the fact that silicon is like 10 times more common on Earth than carbon, yet life evolved to use carbon anyway, makes silicon-based life seem unlikely.

That's not to say that it is outright impossible -- silicon might behave differently at much higher temperatures and with a solvent more alkaline than water, but we really don't know enough to say for sure whether it really could support life or not, or if there would be easier alternatives for life to use.

lately I've been reading up on venus a lot, and stumbled across a few articles that talk about the possibility of microbial life in venus' clouds. The main argument against this however was the lack of water and oxygen. which i don't get. to me it seems so close-minded to assume all life everywhere absolutely needs water. I don't see why sulfer based life on venus couldn't or methane based life on titan couldn't exist. Life just seems too opportunistic to think that What are your thoughts?

Trust me, it's not arrogance or close-mindedness or anything of the sort. Any scientist in any field would be thrilled beyond words at the discovery of alien life with an alien biochemistry. The problem is that we only have one example of how life looks, one example we know works, and we wouldn't even know where to begin looking for anything else. Alternative biochemistries have been proposed, but most of them fall short in one way or another, so we aren't sure anything else can exist. It's much more productive to look for something of which we already have proof of concept than to reach out in the dark when we aren't even sure anything's out there.

[KRI]

My intiution is that 3 things are necessary for life to evolve: building block atom, solvent molecule and oxidizing agent. In Earth these are carbon, water and oxygen (or sulphur in some extreme cases). Carbon is more or less irreplaceable. Silicon atoms cannot form long chains like carbon. You cannot build any flexible and durable structure with silicon.

Ammonia-nitrogen might be an alternative solvent-oxidizer pair for low temperature environments. Though ammonia is far less common than water in the universe.

Have you watched Europa Report? It shows what happens when humans behave like kerbals in space. ) Spoiler: They die! It has a happy and corny ending. I wished they had put more thought in the second half of the scenario, but well, they do not make sci-fi like they used to.

[nhnifong]

It's been proposed that life on titan could consume acetylene and hydrogen for energy and produce methane. The sun would then photodissociate the methane in the atmosphere and it would recombine into acetylene and hydrogen.

http://phys.org/news194801328.html