5 ms·

Can we get an experiment done immediately to see if they will survive off of the electricity inside a vacuum?

by AncoraImparo 10y ago

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
themartorana 10y ago
Why? Seriously. What's the potential gain? Layman asking.
- toomuchtodo 10y ago
  No respiration. You cut the current metabolism pathway down to absorbing electrons. It would be revolutionary.
  - dualogy 10y ago
    > No respiration. > revolutionary. Well your red blood cells, some retina and renal cells, and most cancerous cells also either thrive (or at least do much better) on fermentation aka non-respiration..
- Johnie 10y ago
  Experiment control. Eliminate other factors other than the electrons.
- drzaiusapelord 10y ago
  Imagine if we created an organism that could live in the vacuum of space as comfortable as being on the surface of a planet. It would revolutionize our ideas of space exploration and colonization. Also, I imagine there's some skepticism here. If they lived in a vacuum that means there was nothing else they could live off and they truly are eating electricity. We also live in the age of "viral scholarship" where a lot of shoddy science gets paraded around for status seeking universities and researchers. Remember how skeptics of the FTL claim from those Italians were shot down on these forums and reddit? Skeptics shouldn't be automatically punished. If anything, we need skepticism more than ever.
  - l3m0ndr0p 10y ago
    Maybe these organisms already exist out in "space."
  - chongli 10y ago
    How would they repair themselves and reproduce without access to nutrients?
- bencollier49 10y ago
  I see what you did there! Potential! Ahahaha!
  - themartorana 10y ago
    Yes I... totally did that on purpose...
caseysoftware 10y ago
> Thus far, whenever scientists search for these electron eaters in the right locations — places that have lots of minerals but not a lot of oxygen — they find them. Sounds like they expect them to need some oxygen or other gasses.
tstactplsignore 10y ago
Haha, not even close. Besides the obvious low pressure issues with surviving in a vacuum that cause the membrane to become permeable, "electricity" doesn't replace all metabolism for these organisms. They still need a source of the common and rare elements required for life (CNOP + several metal cations), a pool of hydrogen, carbon electron donors, and water. Basically on par with stuff that most microbes are going to use. The metallic reduction reaction that the first species discussed uses: https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Dissimilatory_metal_reduction#Shewanella_putrefaciens https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Dissimilatory_metal... And for the second, which absorbs Hydrogen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogenotroph https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogenotroph This is a cool area of research, but everyone seems to have fundamentally overestimated what it means to the lay person.
rcthompson 10y ago
They use electricity as their energy source, but they still need a source of matter from which to synthesize their biomass. Just like plants derive energy from light, but they still need to take up water and CO2 to synthesize glucose with that energy. Separating the concept of an energy source from a source of biomass is difficult for us humans because everything we eat supplies both in roughly equal measure, but there are many examples of organisms that use different sources for their energy and their biomass.
Terr_ 10y ago
That seems an unreasonably high bar though. I mean, photosynthesizing life "lives off the sun", but nobody challenges it by putting a tomato plant into a vacuum :p

Can we get an experiment done immediately to see if they will survive off of the electricity inside a vacuum?

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

themartorana 10y ago

Why? Seriously. What's the potential gain? Layman asking.

toomuchtodo 10y ago
No respiration. You cut the current metabolism pathway down to absorbing electrons. It would be revolutionary.
- dualogy 10y ago
  > No respiration. > revolutionary. Well your red blood cells, some retina and renal cells, and most cancerous cells also either thrive (or at least do much better) on fermentation aka non-respiration..
Johnie 10y ago
Experiment control. Eliminate other factors other than the electrons.
drzaiusapelord 10y ago
Imagine if we created an organism that could live in the vacuum of space as comfortable as being on the surface of a planet. It would revolutionize our ideas of space exploration and colonization. Also, I imagine there's some skepticism here. If they lived in a vacuum that means there was nothing else they could live off and they truly are eating electricity. We also live in the age of "viral scholarship" where a lot of shoddy science gets paraded around for status seeking universities and researchers. Remember how skeptics of the FTL claim from those Italians were shot down on these forums and reddit? Skeptics shouldn't be automatically punished. If anything, we need skepticism more than ever.
- l3m0ndr0p 10y ago
  Maybe these organisms already exist out in "space."
- chongli 10y ago
  How would they repair themselves and reproduce without access to nutrients?
bencollier49 10y ago
I see what you did there! Potential! Ahahaha!
- themartorana 10y ago
  Yes I... totally did that on purpose...

caseysoftware 10y ago

> Thus far, whenever scientists search for these electron eaters in the right locations — places that have lots of minerals but not a lot of oxygen — they find them. Sounds like they expect them to need some oxygen or other gasses.

tstactplsignore 10y ago

Haha, not even close. Besides the obvious low pressure issues with surviving in a vacuum that cause the membrane to become permeable, "electricity" doesn't replace all metabolism for these organisms. They still need a source of the common and rare elements required for life (CNOP + several metal cations), a pool of hydrogen, carbon electron donors, and water. Basically on par with stuff that most microbes are going to use. The metallic reduction reaction that the first species discussed uses: https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Dissimilatory_metal_reduction#Shewanella_putrefaciens https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Dissimilatory_metal... And for the second, which absorbs Hydrogen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogenotroph https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogenotroph This is a cool area of research, but everyone seems to have fundamentally overestimated what it means to the lay person.

rcthompson 10y ago

They use electricity as their energy source, but they still need a source of matter from which to synthesize their biomass. Just like plants derive energy from light, but they still need to take up water and CO2 to synthesize glucose with that energy. Separating the concept of an energy source from a source of biomass is difficult for us humans because everything we eat supplies both in roughly equal measure, but there are many examples of organisms that use different sources for their energy and their biomass.

Terr_ 10y ago

That seems an unreasonably high bar though. I mean, photosynthesizing life "lives off the sun", but nobody challenges it by putting a tomato plant into a vacuum :p