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Fortunately per the article the tardigrades are sealed in epoxy and dehydrated, so any concerns about inadvertently disrupting some theoretical microbial ecosys
by stolen_biscuit 6y ago
Fortunately per the article the tardigrades are sealed in epoxy and dehydrated, so any concerns about inadvertently disrupting some theoretical microbial ecosystem on the moon is probably not founded (not that I believe there is other life on the moon anyway)
- WalterBright 6y ago> Fortunately I'd say unfortunately.
- stolen_biscuit 6y agoPerhaps, but personally I'd prefer any potential life seeding events to be controlled so we are reasonably confident we aren't wiping out a potentially unexplored domain of living things. If we're interested in expanding the frontiers of life I'd love for it to be a scientific pursuit rather than brought about by human error. However if we're talking cosmically, the chaotic crash landing does seem to be more in line with the more natural unpredictable way of the universe. So who am I to judge?
- WalterBright 6y agoCan't prove there is no life on the moon, but all indications are there is none. Need to stop worrying about it, just like we don't worry about the Abdominal Snowman. Besides, as the astronauts were unable to prevent getting moondust all over themselves and the spacecraft, it's highly unlikely they didn't spread biologic material all around, and it's all long dead now.
- stolen_biscuit 6y agoI do agree, I certainly don't think there's any life on or near the surface of the moon given our current understanding of it's composition. Seems incapable of fostering even the hardiest extremophiles, so the chance of astronauts leaving behind biological material, or dehydrated tardigrades trapped in epoxy doesn't concern me too much. But having said that, I do like to hope we will discover much, much more about our nearest neighbours and who knows? Maybe life is much more versatile than we know it to be now. I never want to see that pursuit muddied or compromised by negligence on our part.
- WalterBright 6y agoIt would also be highly unlikely that native life on some moon would be out-competed by extremely maladapted terrestrial life. It'd be like a dog trying to outswim a shark.
- stolen_biscuit 6y agoI don't agree, nor do I think human beings have a great track record of such predictions (see introduced wildlife around the world). I wouldn't feel confident predicting how an extremophile like the tardigrade would fare (nor any theoretical microbes that they might eat for lunch) if given the opportunity to exist in some "stable island" ecosystem near or under the surface of the moon.
- WalterBright 6y ago> introduced wildlife I thought about that, but they're already 99% adapted to the new ecosystem. Also, if a hippo is introduced to the arctic tundra, it will promptly die, not outcompete reindeer.
- brewdad 6y agoDoes the Abdominal Snowman skip leg day?
- dumpsterdiver 6y agoDevil's advocate: If a small icy meteor struck the moon at the right spot it could potentially "uncage" these wee bears, as well as provide the necessary moisture for them to reanimate.