"It's life, Jim, but not as we know it... *maybe*"

[S.C. Watson]

Things that make ya say "hmmmmmmmm........"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6981361/

[Ilja Murometz]

"""hmmmmmmmmmm...."""

[bRyaN]

Life can exist on any planet...
They would just have completely different physiologies than humans on Earth...

[dfacto]

I hope that we do find life on mars, without a shadow of a doubt. If it can exist on a barren rock like mars, it ups the chances of having life out there by quite a bit.

[S.C. Watson]

Life can exist on any planet...
They would just have completely different physiologies than humans on Earth...Yeah, I agree. But not just humans. *Anything* on earth. Unless life is some sort of "star spawn" its debatable that it will even have DNA, but use some other encoder for passing biological information from one generation to another.

Taking it further, alien life won't fall into our terrestrial classifications either. You won't have "reptiles", or "fish", or "birds" or "mammals", nor will you have "plantlife" or "animal" life as we currently define them. Vegitation is a purly terrestial evolutionary offshoot. Beyond very, very basic structures (single cell, microbiological type stuff) you are into whole new, ahem, worlds of biology.
I hope that we do find life on mars, without a shadow of a doubt. If it can exist on a barren rock like mars, it ups the chances of having life out there by quite a bit.
Again, yes. This would be fantastic. I'm also curious as to what they may find on Europa and Titan, both also offer prime environments for "early" life as well!

OOOHHH, golly-gee this stuf gets me excited! :perv:

yeah.

~Shane

[dogfood]

So you're telling me that aliens aren't hot chicks with bumpy foreheads (and loose morals)? :nohope:

TV so lies!

[bRyaN]

Shane, ...that's exactly what i wanted to say, but couldn't really put it together in my head...lol...

cheers...

[S.C. Watson]

So you're telling me that aliens aren't hot chicks with bumpy foreheads (and loose morals)? :nohope:

TV so lies!

Oh, that it were true! That it were true! >:{

[S.C. Watson]

Shane, ...that's exactly what i wanted to say, but couldn't really put it together in my head...lol...

cheers...

hehe, trust me, bRyanN, I've spent FAR too much time thinking about this stuff. It's not healthy hehe :x

[thebluepuppy]

i think they already have found life on other planets. think about if one day someone got on tv and could disprove every religion and everything you thought was real. what would be real. nothing. mass histeria and confusion, and most likely the destruction of life on planet earth would ensue. morals would be meaniingless. beacuse religion defines morals. human life would be seen as worthless and meaningless to the masses.n we are born. we die. thats it. pretty scary shit huh.. :S :tihi:

[S.C. Watson]

Oh, I don't think it would be that bad. I certainly think that there would be some upheaval, but I doubt everything would fall apart.

And, I really don't think that they've found life (positively) yet. If they had, the scientific community is pretty open about this sort of thing, with *a lot* of peer evaluation and double checking across boarders. Something like that would be pretty near dang impossible to keep a lid on for long.

~S

[dogfood]

I decided not to get on that boat...

But, on topic, there was a series of experiments last year, but I cannot find the references. The scientists were trying to see if the recently discovered compounds from comets and asteroids could survive the tremendous heat and impact associated with an atmospheric entry and getting smacked with a planet. The took the same compounds and simulated the subjective forces. Not only did the figurative guinea pigs survive, they actually formed into more complex compounds, implying that life may have come from... out there (from the 12 colonies).

I also believe that were this to be the case, and if you had a similar environment, I think we could find classification similarities between the native flora and fauna and our own, just not necessarily those from our modern era. There has been some weird crap discovered in the fossil record.

[dogfood]

You know, Shane, I actually prefer the avatar that looks like the user (like yours). It makes it a little less anonymous. Maybe I should get an avatar...

Oh, goodness... the post of the beast!

[S.C. Watson]

okay, gotcha. Was wondering what you were up to :dur:

Actually, there's been a series of experiements concerning the origins of life, going back, if I remember correctly to the late sixties and seventies, (possibly even the fifties) where early atmospheric conditions were simulated and electrical impulses (lightening) were introduced. You ended up with, in a very short period of time, organic compounds.

I find nothing outrageous about the idea of "cross pollination" from not only world to world, but even concievably from system to system. Within our own neighborhood, it's entirely possible that some akin to this has happened.

If nothing else, over the past ten years, it has been proven out that at least our strain of life (carbon based DNA replicating sort) is extremely adaptable to conditions that were previously thought entirely inhospitable. In a strange way, I find the fact that there isn't hardly a sqaure inch on our planet on which something is living very hopeful for the existance of thriving ecosystems "out there".

Intelligent life, on the other hand, I think may be a tad more of a challenge to find.

~S

[S.C. Watson]

You know, Shane, I actually prefer the avatar that looks like the user (like yours). It makes it a little less anonymous. Maybe I should get an avatar...

Oh, goodness... the post of the beast!

Yeah, I'm in the same camp. I would have done one sooner, but I didn't have any current photos. Needed that bloody digital camera :tihi:

Besides, having a photo mug of yourself makes it a little less alienating.

babump thump. hah.

~S

[Sinix]

i think they already have found life on other planets. think about if one day someone got on tv and could disprove every religion and everything you thought was real. what would be real. nothing. mass histeria and confusion, and most likely the destruction of life on planet earth would ensue. morals would be meaniingless. beacuse religion defines morals. human life would be seen as worthless and meaningless to the masses.n we are born. we die. thats it. pretty scary shit huh.. :S :tihi:


No, not scary shit. You can't "disprove" religions.. our concept of "proving" is based on logic, religions aren't logic based.. they're "faith" based. Also, religion doesn't define morality, men define religion and technically morality. Remember, morality is just a result of self-preserving instincts mixed with self-awareness. Lastly, the concept of something being meaningfull or meaningless won't change anything. Meaning is meaningless.

[dogfood]

there's been a series of experiements concerning the origins of life, going back, if I remember correctly to the late sixties and seventies, (possibly even the fifties) where early atmospheric conditions were simulated and electrical impulses (lightening) were introduced. You ended up with, in a very short period of time, organic compounds.

Most of those efforts have recently been debunked by the scientific world as pretty useless, since determining the initial conditions are so much more of a guess than normal science. The only thing they'd have proven (had they worked), was whether life could be generated in a lab.

This one took stuff they found in space (replicated) and pounded the hell out of it.

[talbot]

Feb. 18, 2005
RELEASE: 05-052

NASA Statement on False Claim of Evidence of Life on Mars

News reports on February 16, 2005, that NASA scientists from Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., have found strong evidence that life may exist on Mars are incorrect.

NASA does not have any observational data from any current Mars missions that supports this claim. The work by the scientists mentioned in the reports cannot be used to directly infer anything about life on Mars, but may help formulate the strategy for how to search for martian life. Their research concerns extreme environments on Earth as analogs of possible environments on Mars. No research paper has been submitted by them to any scientific journal asserting martian life.



http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/feb/HQ_05052_mars_claim.html

[cotron]

cats and dogs living together!

mass hysteria!!

burn your cars!!!

[S.C. Watson]

Thanks for posting that, Talbot.

Dang NASA meanies. They've dashed my hopes again! :$