Tiny Enceladus [a moon of Saturn] May Hold Ingredients of Life

UANews.org (University of Arizona ) ^ | 05 September 2005 | Lori Stiles

[Junior]

We could ask it to take us to its leader.

[Gefreiter]

Heh, asking is for more sensitive species.

We *demand* to see the leader of the mold!

[Gefreiter]

...or, give them a 4 day package to Orlando's Disney World resort. All the mold would have to do is come in for a 90 minute seminar on time share opportunities.

[Young Werther]

The Viking Probes searched for life on Mars by releasing an organic brew into the Martian soil and looking for metabloic reaction.

For Enceladus NASA's protocol is similar but simpler. They're gonna add some croutons and ranch dressing to enceladus and weight for a low carb reaction!

[RazzPutin]

More speculation here: http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2005/arch05/00current.htm

[furball4paws]

Don't you think Venus is just too damn hot?

[furball4paws]

Plasmodial Slime Mold alert.

[skinkinthegrass]

Thanks, PH. ...interesting tread, so far. :D

[VadeRetro]

Its south pole is a hotspot, hovering at a relatively balmy minus -183 degrees Celsius compared to the expected temperature of -203 degrees Celsius.

Balmy! I'll pack the shorts and t-shirts when I go.

[wyattearp]

"Balmy! I'll pack the shorts and t-shirts when I go."

(article): The diminutive moon turns out to have a primarily water vapor atmosphere

It's not the heat, it's the humidity that'll kill ya!

[Dead Corpse]

I say we make a whole bunch of small probe-bots that'll use those ion continuous-thrust engines to go out, attach themselves to Ceres, and have them slam it into Venus. The water oughta cool down Venus and the impact oughta get rid of a whole bunch of the sulfur dioxide.

[Quark2005]

Wow! Evolution takes a lot of faith.

Yeah, if you don't take the time to understand the theory, it does take a lot of faith.

[RightWhale]

That was the Deep Impact comet. Carbon signature from the interior.

Why does discussion of lifeforms on other planets bring out the C/E debaters? Seems like there either is life out there or there isn't. One thing seems likely: there will be life out there and it will be us.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[vannrox]

GO HERE to see the incredible images!

[StolarStorm]

Gee, how original. Do you think that somehow you are the first person to come onto a science thread to bash evolution. Yawn.

[RightWingAtheist]

Tew kewl :)

[AntiGuv]

Negative!

Acidic clouds of Venus could harbour life

Venus is usually written off as a potential haven for life because of its hellishly hot and acidic surface. But conditions in the atmosphere at an altitude of around 50 kilometres are relatively hospitable: the temperature is about 70 °C, with a pressure of about one atmosphere.

Although the clouds are very acidic, this region also has the highest concentration of water droplets in the Venusian atmosphere. "From an astrobiology point of view, Venus is not hopeless," says Dirk Schulze-Makuch from the University of Texas at El Paso.

...cut...

Even more mysterious is the presence of carbonyl sulphide. This gas is so difficult to produce inorganically that it is sometimes considered an unambiguous indicator of biological activity.

[RadioAstronomer]

I personally believe (and yes this is a belief) that life is replete throughout the universe.

[PatrickHenry]

I personally believe (and yes this is a belief) that life is replete throughout the universe.

The presence of organic molecules in interstellar dust clouds would suggest that life has a good chance of getting started wherever there is a favorable environment -- one that remains favorable long enough. And it now appears that stars with planets are plentiful. We can't be the only world with liquid water where life can develop. The big question -- and you know this better than I do -- is not whether there's life out there, but how often life gets the opportunity to develop past the stage of lichens, mosses, etc.