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41 Comments
- ScottMcIntyre, on 11/10/2009, -1/+31The tardigrades (water bears) look like little aliens... not even cosmic or solar radiation or vacuum pressure could kill them when they went into space! I'm thinking world domination is next :-O
- ratava911, on 11/11/2009, -0/+11Waterbears kick ass.
- sleestakslayer, on 11/11/2009, -0/+8Mars is so awesome.
- ctabone, on 11/11/2009, -0/+7There are also some other species of bacteria, such as Chryseobacterium greenlandensis, that can actually live *in* ice - within the tiny veins and cracks that form over time.
http://www.livescience.com/animals/080603-extreme- ... - WhiskeyLemur, on 11/11/2009, -0/+7Oxygen is actually quite corrosive - one of the two largest extinction events in the history of this planet was caused by an overproduction of oxygen by a new species of plants. That has been the going theory for decades, anyway - there's now some question as to its validity, but even if it proves to be false, the very fact that it was considered at all means that our earliest ancestors were not, in fact, oxygen-breathers. There was simply not enough oxygen naturally present in the atmosphere. So your statement is absolutely true - there's nothing about oxygen specifically that makes it a prerequisite for life in general.
That, however, doesn't mean that there is, or has ever been, life on Mars. No samples of Martian soil or air have had any traces of life, however primitive, and that's not a good sign - life will spread to the limits of its environment. However, we've only explored a very minuscule fraction of the planet, so it's possible that there may be microscopic life elsewhere - subterranean locations, for example. The idea that we will find anything larger than bacteria, however, should most likely be abandoned as science fiction. Perhaps one of Jupiter's moons may prove to be more hospitable. - PlasticHotDog, on 11/11/2009, -0/+6If I remember correctly, there's a species of organism featured in the film Planet Earth that lives in a cave pool filled with concentrated sulfuric acid.
- copypastry, on 11/11/2009, -0/+6They can also survive boiling for a pretty long time, and near-absolute zero as well.
They are also remarkably complex organisms with a tiny circulatory system, a tiny brain, and tiny muscles. Sure they're very simplistic versions of those systems, but it's ***** bad ass to see organ specializations on such a small scale. Here's a video of one walking on what looks like a volvox.
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=86219816774 ... - Karagoose, on 11/11/2009, -1/+6Im sure there can be species that don't use oxygen to live. Just because it doesn't exist on earth, doesn't mean it doesn't exist in the infinite space of the universe.
- Mnementh2230, on 11/12/2009, -0/+5evidence for this assertion?
- minorthreat, on 11/11/2009, -0/+5I'm not sure why you were dugg down, I've always wondered this also. Why do we assume "earth like" planets can only contain life. We know very little about whats out there. There could be organisms that live off of elements we have never even heard of.
- Moralogic, on 11/11/2009, -0/+4I would like to welcome our tardigrades overloads.
- FearlessFreep, on 11/11/2009, -0/+3"Why do we assume "earth like" planets can only contain life. We know very little about whats out there. There could be organisms that live off of elements we have never even heard of."
Well, we know about most elements that can occur in natural settings.
One thing about life is that in order to be called anything like 'life' it has to probably have some basic attributes and at some point you're going to get down to chemistry. We have life on earth because the chemistry works given the elements available. To get 'life' that's compositionally different than what we have, you're going to have to have another set of elements accomplishing the same chemical effects at some point. - DannoSpeaks, on 11/11/2009, -0/+3I've always thought that the tough part was the creation of life, not it's ability to survive once it's there.
- muleskinner, on 11/11/2009, -0/+3The genus Feroplasma is one of which I know can live in highly concentrated sulfuric acid environments.
- boysetsfire03, on 11/11/2009, -0/+3I would think that a nuclear reactor would have made the list...
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/2095/full - serif69, on 11/11/2009, -0/+2How awesome is it?
- Aspaztic, on 11/12/2009, -0/+2Tardigrades are amazing creatures. It is remarkable that these invertebrates can survive radiation doses of 5000 Gy and can even reproduce until around 1000 Gy.
They do not have a true circulatory or respiratory system which makes sense due to their small size. Instead most of their body is a hemocoel (an open circulatory system) and they obtain oxygen through diffusion. - coloradowild, on 11/11/2009, -0/+2Only thing I can say is wow! These photos are great.
- Terwa, on 11/11/2009, -0/+2Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show - THELEECH, on 11/11/2009, -0/+2But her friend is nowhere to be seen
Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she's hooked to the silver screen
But the film is a saddening bore
For she's lived it ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on - copypastry, on 11/11/2009, -0/+2GET YOUR ASS TO MARS
- copypastry, on 11/11/2009, -0/+2crosaks - learn2davidbowie
- serif69, on 11/11/2009, -0/+1It seemed two whether the editorial storm than Shirley want into thus article.
- ChickenFight, on 11/11/2009, -0/+1say whattttt
- Midou, on 11/11/2009, -0/+1Its a god awful small affair
- poppingweasels, on 11/11/2009, -0/+1I was thinking this as well... new life I would imagine would be extremely simplistic and fragile, unable to adapt right away... being formed in a harsh environment would near immediately extinguish it.
- Anchorbird, on 11/11/2009, -0/+1I'm saving up some money to make my 1st house there!:)
- scamper22, on 11/11/2009, -0/+1Great, now pack up these hardy organisms, and ship em off to mars and venus. Let's see what develops.
I'm only half kidding. - bpwrinn, on 11/18/2009, -0/+1Because people are born all the time.
Because it's ridiculous to draw analogies based on size between two entirely different organisms.
Because life growing on another planet means the possibility of that fetus one day living there.
Because it's ***** bacteria, on MARS. - MissCellania, on 11/12/2009, -0/+1That would be me. Thanks for pointing out a typo and labeling me as illiterate.
You might want to learn to use a period at the end of a sentence. - Bobbister, on 11/11/2009, -0/+1Should give due credit: the diagram of Lake Volstok was taken from
http://www.damninteresting.com/raiders-of-the-lost ... - mKdiR, on 11/11/2009, -0/+1".. they were exposed to cosmic radiation, solar radiation, and vacuum pressure.....After returning from their adventure, they lived and even reproduced!"
Explain that one, evolution! - bpwrinn, on 11/18/2009, -0/+1well OBVIOUSLY, based on his previous comments, he came from there.
- hereticoftruth, on 11/12/2009, -0/+1I would be extremely surprised if no extremophiles were found on Mars except for the ones we brought with us. I would be surprised if we found the equivalent of lichen and moss there. Even more surprised if we found species that live on Earth also.
- Trcoolguy, on 11/11/2009, -5/+5It's a god-awful small affair
To the girl with the mousy hair
But her mummy is yelling "No"
And her daddy has told her to go - inactive, on 11/11/2009, -1/+0WTF?.
- thandermax, on 11/11/2009, -1/+0What you are seeing is in _EARTH_ .. There is some difference between mars and earth...
- mgbinsd, on 11/11/2009, -3/+1It amazes me that people will go crazy about some bacteria on a distant planet and exclaim there is life on Mars, and yet a fetus growing inside a woman is not.
- Tyrghast, on 11/11/2009, -4/+2Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids
edit: a method they use to whether extreme conditions on earth
Really? Who are the illiterate ***** that are writing these pseudo-science articles? - inactive, on 11/11/2009, -11/+4There is life living in the vilest of all places. Like Nancy Pelosi's anal folds.
- CrazedLeper, on 11/11/2009, -11/+1Sorry, that's just now how it works. There's no life on Mars, There never was. Get over it.
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