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>It's pretty much our only opportunity to see if life emerged twice in the same planetary system under similar conditions. You mean carbon based life. Methane
by codesushi42 7y ago
>It's pretty much our only opportunity to see if life emerged twice in the same planetary system under similar conditions.
You mean carbon based life. Methane based life may be a possibility, and you wouldn't have found it on Mars. You might find it on Titan.
- dredmorbius 7y agoMethane is an organic (carbon-chain) molecule: CH4. Titan would have a low-temperature carbon-based chemistry, but it would remain carbon-based if focused on methane. Alternative hypothetical biochemistries usually focus on silicon.
- codesushi42 7y agoTrue. But a methane based lifeform would be radically different than the carbon based lifeforms found on Earth, and would have emerged separately.
- dredmorbius 7y agoOddly, that wasn't your claim.
- codesushi42 7y agoIt was. Read the OP's claims about Mars. Mars alone does not provide the answer about whether or not life evolved independently in our solar system.
- hdfbdtbcdg 7y agoCan you elaborate?
- codesushi42 7y agoThey would not have cell membranes with phospholipids for one thing.
- hdfbdtbcdg 7y agoWhy not? Methane is a hydrocarbon. We are made of hydrocarbons. I just can't understand what the chemical difference is. Are these differences because of oxygen? I.e. life forms of C+H vs lifeforms of C+H+O?
- codesushi42 7y agoYes. Phospholipids are not viable outside of water; they would not be strong enough to perform well in liquid methane.
- hdfbdtbcdg 7y agoSo the suggestion is carbon based biology at very reducing conditions? What temperatures are we considering?
- codesushi42 7y agoCold. Methane becomes liquid at -161.6C. It is not my suggestion. It's suggested by scientists that Titan may host methane based life.
- reirob 7y agoDo you have any references handy?
- codesushi42 7y agohttps://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/1/e1400067 https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/1/e1400067