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The problem of investigating life on moons that could host it
So they send a mission to Enceladus. They find no life. "Ah well, maybe the equipment isn't good enough yet?" 10 years pass, another mission is sent. This time they find bacteria and viruses. Now, was this missed the first time around, or was it evolved contamination from the first ship?
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44630121 |
#2
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The problem of investigating life on moons that could host it
On Fri, 29 Jun 2018 17:14:01 -0700 (PDT), RichA
wrote: So they send a mission to Enceladus. They find no life. "Ah well, maybe the equipment isn't good enough yet?" 10 years pass, another mission is sent. This time they find bacteria and viruses. Now, was this missed the first time around, or was it evolved contamination from the first ship? https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44630121 All life on Earth evolved from a single common ancestor, and shares a huge amount of common genetic coding. Anything we leave behind will be readily identifiable as originating on Earth. Even if alien life uses the same genetic chemistry as Earth life, there's no chance it's going to code for the same genes (and especially for all the inactive segments). |
#3
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The problem of investigating life on moons that could host it
On Friday, 29 June 2018 20:23:30 UTC-4, Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Fri, 29 Jun 2018 17:14:01 -0700 (PDT), RichA wrote: So they send a mission to Enceladus. They find no life. "Ah well, maybe the equipment isn't good enough yet?" 10 years pass, another mission is sent. This time they find bacteria and viruses. Now, was this missed the first time around, or was it evolved contamination from the first ship? https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44630121 All life on Earth evolved from a single common ancestor, and shares a huge amount of common genetic coding. Anything we leave behind will be readily identifiable as originating on Earth. Even if alien life uses the same genetic chemistry as Earth life, there's no chance it's going to code for the same genes (and especially for all the inactive segments). Unless panspermia is right and it came from the same comet, comet swarm, etc. |
#4
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The problem of investigating life on moons that could host it
On Fri, 29 Jun 2018 22:27:13 -0700 (PDT), RichA
wrote: On Friday, 29 June 2018 20:23:30 UTC-4, Chris L Peterson wrote: On Fri, 29 Jun 2018 17:14:01 -0700 (PDT), RichA wrote: So they send a mission to Enceladus. They find no life. "Ah well, maybe the equipment isn't good enough yet?" 10 years pass, another mission is sent. This time they find bacteria and viruses. Now, was this missed the first time around, or was it evolved contamination from the first ship? https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44630121 All life on Earth evolved from a single common ancestor, and shares a huge amount of common genetic coding. Anything we leave behind will be readily identifiable as originating on Earth. Even if alien life uses the same genetic chemistry as Earth life, there's no chance it's going to code for the same genes (and especially for all the inactive segments). Unless panspermia is right and it came from the same comet, comet swarm, etc. Sure. But if panspermia is right (which it almost certainly is not, at least in terms of delivering complex life) then it doesn't really matter, since all life would be the same. "Earth life" wouldn't have so much meaning. |
#5
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The problem of investigating life on moons that could host it
RichA wrote in
: On Friday, 29 June 2018 20:23:30 UTC-4, Chris L Peterson wrote: On Fri, 29 Jun 2018 17:14:01 -0700 (PDT), RichA wrote: So they send a mission to Enceladus. They find no life. "Ah well, mayb e the equipment isn't good enough yet?" 10 years pass, another mission is sent. This time they find bacteria and viruses. Now, was this missed the first time around, or was it evolved contamination from the first ship? https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44630121 All life on Earth evolved from a single common ancestor, and shares a huge amount of common genetic coding. Anything we leave behind will be readily identifiable as originating on Earth. Even if alien life uses the same genetic chemistry as Earth life, there's no chance it's going to code for the same genes (and especially for all the inactive segments). Unless panspermia is right and it came from the same comet, comet swarm, etc. If it's contamination from the previous probe, there will be virtually zero genetic shift from the parent. If it's native, even if it is carbon based (highly likely), even if it uses the same gentic bases, even if it uses DNA, it will be at least as different from anything on earth as the variation within earth based bacteria and viruses, and will match none of them. The odds of bacteria evolving separately that are that similar to ours are pretty slim. The odds of them being *identical* are indistinguishable from zero. In short, your question is stupid. (And so are you, but we knew that already.) -- Terry Austin Vacation photos from Iceland: https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB "Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole." -- David Bilek Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals. |
#6
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The problem of investigating life on moons that could host it
On Monday, 2 July 2018 18:21:26 UTC+2, Dugh! wrote:
In short, your question is stupid. (And so are you, but we knew that already.) Construct a sentence as an example of irony. |
#7
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The problem of investigating life on moons that could host it
"Chris.B" wrote in news:cff2933a-8d85-4b57-
: On Monday, 2 July 2018 18:21:26 UTC+2, Dugh! wrote: In short, your question is stupid. (And so are you, but we knew that already.) Construct a sentence as an example of irony. I know you are, but what am I? -- Terry Austin Vacation photos from Iceland: https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB "Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole." -- David Bilek Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals. |
#8
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The problem of investigating life on moons that could host it
On 02/07/2018 17:21, Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha wrote:
RichA wrote in : On Friday, 29 June 2018 20:23:30 UTC-4, Chris L Peterson wrote: On Fri, 29 Jun 2018 17:14:01 -0700 (PDT), RichA wrote: So they send a mission to Enceladus. They find no life. "Ah well, mayb e the equipment isn't good enough yet?" 10 years pass, another mission is sent. This time they find bacteria and viruses. Now, was this missed the first time around, or was it evolved contamination from the first ship? https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44630121 All life on Earth evolved from a single common ancestor, and shares a huge amount of common genetic coding. Anything we leave behind will be readily identifiable as originating on Earth. Even if alien life uses the same genetic chemistry as Earth life, there's no chance it's going to code for the same genes (and especially for all the inactive segments). Unless panspermia is right and it came from the same comet, comet swarm, etc. If it's contamination from the previous probe, there will be virtually zero genetic shift from the parent. If it's native, even if it is carbon based (highly likely), even if it uses the same gentic bases, even if it uses DNA, it will be at least as different from anything on earth as the variation within earth based bacteria and viruses, and will match none of them. The odds of bacteria evolving separately that are that similar to ours are pretty slim. The odds of them being *identical* are indistinguishable from zero. They might not be in terms of what extremophiles have to look like in order to survive in that environment. More than one plant family has solved the environmental constraints of living in a desert and reached the same physical shape as the optimum solution. African euphorbia gymnocaliciodes being a canonical example - literally named as the euphorbia that looks like an Amaerican gymnocalcium cactus. They evolved on separate continents to fill the same ecological niche. http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/EUP...alycioides.htm http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/GYM..._baldianum.htm The spines are not as long on the euphorbia but then it has the benefit of chemical weapons with caustic toxic sap. There are euphorbias that mimic the design of columnar cereus cacti too. In short, your question is stupid. (And so are you, but we knew that already.) Not sure it is that stupid. They got back viable microbe spores from the lunar lander camera that the Apollo 12 team went to look at on the moon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survey..._contamination It is unclear whether this was real or a later contamination but it altered NASA policy on trying much harder not to contaminate pristine worlds with possibly habitable conditions with terrestrial microbes. -- Regards, Martin Brown |
#9
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The problem of investigating life on moons that could host it
On Wed, 4 Jul 2018 20:01:49 +0100, Martin Brown
The odds of bacteria evolving separately that are that similar to ours are pretty slim. The odds of them being *identical* are indistinguishable from zero. They might not be in terms of what extremophiles have to look like in order to survive in that environment. More than one plant family has solved the environmental constraints of living in a desert and reached the same physical shape as the optimum solution. I would say we've never observed an "optimum solution" in any organism, and evolution does not deliver optimal solutions. An organism on another planet might reach a similar phenotypical solution to an Earth organism in a similar environment. It is beyond reason it would share a similar genetic code, however. |
#10
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The problem of investigating life on moons that could host it
Martin Brown wrote in
news On 02/07/2018 17:21, Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha wrote: RichA wrote in : On Friday, 29 June 2018 20:23:30 UTC-4, Chris L Peterson wrote: On Fri, 29 Jun 2018 17:14:01 -0700 (PDT), RichA wrote: So they send a mission to Enceladus. They find no life. "Ah well, mayb e the equipment isn't good enough yet?" 10 years pass, another mission is sent. This time they find bacteria and viruses. Now, was this missed the first time around, or was it evolved contamination from the first ship? https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44630121 All life on Earth evolved from a single common ancestor, and shares a huge amount of common genetic coding. Anything we leave behind will be readily identifiable as originating on Earth. Even if alien life uses the same genetic chemistry as Earth life, there's no chance it's going to code for the same genes (and especially for all the inactive segments). Unless panspermia is right and it came from the same comet, comet swarm, etc. If it's contamination from the previous probe, there will be virtually zero genetic shift from the parent. If it's native, even if it is carbon based (highly likely), even if it uses the same gentic bases, even if it uses DNA, it will be at least as different from anything on earth as the variation within earth based bacteria and viruses, and will match none of them. The odds of bacteria evolving separately that are that similar to ours are pretty slim. The odds of them being *identical* are indistinguishable from zero. They might not be in terms of what extremophiles have to look like in order to survive in that environment. More than one plant family has solved the environmental constraints of living in a desert and reached the same physical shape as the optimum solution. Physical shape isn't DNA. I'm pretty sure the scientists at NASA know it, too. -- Terry Austin Vacation photos from Iceland: https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB "Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole." -- David Bilek Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals. |
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