Astrobiology announcement Dec. 2

[docm]

SpaceRef is reporting a major announcement from NASA on Dec. 2, 2010 regarding a finding that will impact the search for extraterrestrial life.

Speculation on NASA Watch is that it could involve shadow biospheres.

 

[Smersh]

I was about to start a thread about this Doc but you beat me to it. This does sound quite interesting though I must say. Here's the details from NASA about the forthcoming press conference:

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/no ... ology.html

 

[silylene]

Speculation on NASA Watch is that it could involve shadow biospheres

Given the names of the scientists mentioned, I think you may be correct.

 

[3488]

Speculation on NASA Watch is that it could involve shadow biospheres

Given the names of the scientists mentioned, I think you may be correct.

Sounds fascinating to me.

Thank you so very much docm for bringing this here & letting us know.

I suspect Shadow Biospheres, wonder what NASA has unearthed???

One thing I think we can all agree on, is that the idea of a conventional 'Goldilocks Zone' is no longer the only thing to consider when looking for alien life.

If & I mean a big if, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto & Enceladus actually have subsurface oceans, than I am sure this research will bolster the notion of life independent from relying on sunlight altogether in the closed ecosystems reliant of heat provided by volcanism, no matter how it is produced i.e tidally induced like Encleadus, possibly Europa under the ice or Io, or through Radioactive Isotopic Decay as Venus or Earth, maybe Mercury & / or Mars too.

What ever, this is going to be very interesting indeed.

Andrew Brown.

 

[Smersh]

... One thing I think we can all agree on, is that the idea of a conventional 'Goldilocks Zone' is no longer the only thing to consider when looking for alien life ...

I guess that's one possibilty out of many Andrew. I personally have often wondered about the importance we've attached to "Goldilocks Zones" because of the extremophiles we have discovered existing in very harsh conditions here on Earth.

 

[bdewoody]

I posted something along these lines several months ago after reading a report alluding to a separate start up of life here on earth and was told it was a fantasy.

 

[docm]

I have never, ever, believed that our form of biology was the only game in town. Probably my HS biology teachers fault - he talked several times about alternative biochemistries way back in the 60's.

 

[Skyskimmer]

I have never, ever, believed that our form of biology was the only game in town. Probably my HS biology teachers fault - he talked several times about alternative biochemistries way back in the 60's.

Same this narrow minded dogma that academia propagates is getting old. They take the wind out of everyone's sails as a way of life, it wouldn't be so bad but they insist on killing off all imagination, of course this ain't a direct motive, but it's indirect were you get a bunch of old middle aged men are bitter that life didn't turn out how they planned and need to kill the dreams of others.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Or maybe "they" are using their brains, instead of making up whatever they want with no evidence at all....

Sometimes middle aged men have a better perspective than ignorant kids

 

[alpha_centauri]

SpaceRef is reporting a major announcement from NASA on Dec. 2, 2010 regarding a finding that will impact the search for extraterrestrial life.

Speculation on NASA Watch is that it could involve shadow biospheres.

Further, another article from SpaceRef,

Media/Blogger Exaggeration of Forthcoming NASA Astrobiology News

Basically it's likely about evidence of arsenic-based life and the possibility life arose on Earth multiple times in different forms radically increasing viable habitats.

Here's a news article from The Times earlier in the year about research being done by one of the persons on the panel,

Could the Mono Lake arsenic prove there is a shadow biosphere?

 

[silylene]

Unless it is a novel lifeform which is not RNA / DNA based, it is still a derivative of the fundamental earth lifeform, with still a single origin. If my suspicion is correct, and its genetic coding is RNA / DNA based, but its metabolism is something other than ATP synthase based, this would differentiate it from all other kingdoms of life - however, it is still derived from the original fundamental earth lifeform.

It is thought that early on in the evolution of life, a lifeform with evolved DNA / RNA in cytoplasm merged with another endosymbiont which had evolved ATP synthase - and this merged new life was so advantaged that it became the sole life architecture known. I am guessing that the new discovery being announced is a lifeform which so archaic, it does not utilize ATP synthase, and thus its origin predates this merged lifeform.

 

[paulscottanderson]

There's another good article posted today about the probability of this announcement having to do with shadow biospheres:

http://www.gearfuse.com/nasa-and-the-en ... trial-life

I also updated my own blog post this evening:

http://themeridianijournal.com/2010/11/ ... -discovery

I think this is very likely what the news conference will be about, but we will see on Thursday!

Paul

 

[alpha_centauri]

@silylene

Indeed although as far as I've read Dr Wolfe-Simon's work does include more primitive features like potential arsenic-based photosynthesis and information carrying molecules, whatever they've found probably isn't direct evidence of a "second genesis", but it probably will give the idea stronger legs.

 

[paulscottanderson]

Just saw this new article also:

http://skymania.com/wp/2010/11/alien-li ... earth.html