4 ms·

> and, besides, Earth’s microbes could not possibly grow in an alien body. They'll grow anywhere they damn well please, and if you're lucky it's not underneath

> and, besides, Earth’s microbes could not possibly grow in an alien body. They'll grow anywhere they damn well please, and if you're lucky it's not underneath a membrane that protects your brain or some other organ.

TeMPOraL 12y ago
Microbes should not be seen as animals, but as nanotechnology. A bacteria doesn't differentiate between human's throat and a martian's butt. If there are resources it needs and conditions that don't destroy it outright, it will thrive there.
- nfoz 12y ago
  > A bacteria doesn't differentiate between human's throat and a martian's butt. I'm not sure that a spider does either.
  - NoMoreNicksLeft 12y ago
    Beware the Martian Buttspider, for it also thrives in the human throat.
- jccooper 12y ago
  Many (perhaps most) bacteria are specialized for very specific environments. There's tons of strains that are hard or impossible to cultivate in order to study or measure. http://jb.asm.org/content/194/16/4151.full http://jb.asm.org/content/194/16/4151.full Among infectious bacteria, it's common that they only survive in specific host species. So for any specific bacteria, odds are they wouldn't find an extraterrestrial life form a nice place. (And viruses are probably right out; I doubt a completely alien genetic system would be hackable by Earth viruses.) But there are so darn many bacteria, probably something would manage to infect a Martian.
  - TeMPOraL 12y ago
    Thanks for the link! I always thought that we know how to cultivate every bacteria we've met. I learned something very interesting today :).
    - jccooper 12y ago
      There have been some recent advances, notably in soil bacteria. For example: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC127570/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC127570/ (you can also find some more popular accounts if you look around.) We'll probably be making advances in that area for a long, long time, what with the number and variety of microorganisms out there.
  - Retric 12y ago
    "Among infectious bacteria, it's common that they only survive in specific host species." That may be less true than generally assumed. It was very difficult to find out bacteria X survives in environment Y. Even with ‘cheap’ DNA testing it's still much harder than you might think. Don't forget we still don’t actually know all of the bacteria thrive in the human intestines. The wider ecology of Microbiology is almost a blank slate.

TeMPOraL 12y ago

Microbes should not be seen as animals, but as nanotechnology. A bacteria doesn't differentiate between human's throat and a martian's butt. If there are resources it needs and conditions that don't destroy it outright, it will thrive there.

nfoz 12y ago
> A bacteria doesn't differentiate between human's throat and a martian's butt. I'm not sure that a spider does either.
- NoMoreNicksLeft 12y ago
  Beware the Martian Buttspider, for it also thrives in the human throat.
jccooper 12y ago
Many (perhaps most) bacteria are specialized for very specific environments. There's tons of strains that are hard or impossible to cultivate in order to study or measure. http://jb.asm.org/content/194/16/4151.full http://jb.asm.org/content/194/16/4151.full Among infectious bacteria, it's common that they only survive in specific host species. So for any specific bacteria, odds are they wouldn't find an extraterrestrial life form a nice place. (And viruses are probably right out; I doubt a completely alien genetic system would be hackable by Earth viruses.) But there are so darn many bacteria, probably something would manage to infect a Martian.
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  Thanks for the link! I always thought that we know how to cultivate every bacteria we've met. I learned something very interesting today :).
  - jccooper 12y ago
    There have been some recent advances, notably in soil bacteria. For example: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC127570/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC127570/ (you can also find some more popular accounts if you look around.) We'll probably be making advances in that area for a long, long time, what with the number and variety of microorganisms out there.
- Retric 12y ago
  "Among infectious bacteria, it's common that they only survive in specific host species." That may be less true than generally assumed. It was very difficult to find out bacteria X survives in environment Y. Even with ‘cheap’ DNA testing it's still much harder than you might think. Don't forget we still don’t actually know all of the bacteria thrive in the human intestines. The wider ecology of Microbiology is almost a blank slate.