Any life in space?

[lnm]

Has any life been found in space? Anything at all, viruses included.

[Moontanman]

Has any life been found in space? Anything at all, viruses included.

 

I'd have to say no on that, if life had be discovered in space it would be huge news, no way it would be ignored or covered up.

[Tnad]

However,

'The European Mars Express mission detected hints of methane in Mars's atmosphere last year, and some astrobiologists have speculated that the methane could be a by-product of extremophilic methanogens or some other form of microbial life.' Note also that they have been some bacteria found in the edge of our planet's atmosphere( are said to be far to have come from earth thus are from outer spaces). Hope they really are!why not.

[Caleb]

I'd have to say no on that, if life had be discovered in space it would be huge news, no way it would be ignored or covered up.

 

I don't know... Some scientists destroyed 100 years worth of data recently...

[Moontanman]

I don't know... Some scientists destroyed 100 years worth of data recently...

 

Oh yeah? On what? Please provide more than just a blind claim.

[Caleb]

Oh yeah? On what? Please provide more than just a blind claim.

 

It was something with global temperatures. I don't have the specifics, you might have to look it up. I saw it in the news somewhere.

[Moontanman]

It was something with global temperatures. I don't have the specifics, you might have to look it up. I saw it in the news somewhere.

 

Seriously, you need to read the rules, "I read it somewhere" is not the way this works, you are the one who needs to look it up, not me.

[toastywombel]

It was something with global temperatures. I don't have the specifics, you might have to look it up. I saw it in the news somewhere.

 

If you don't have the specifics, or proof of such a claim, than that claim cannot be taken seriously by any readers of the forum as Moon said.

[J.C.MacSwell]

Has any life been found in space? Anything at all, viruses included.

 

Possible fossil evidence of virus from Mars?

 

 

ALH 84001

 

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/marslife.html

 

also:

 

[pink_trike]

Has any life been found in space? Anything at all, viruses included.

 

Where do you think we are?

[Rip:20]

Where do you think we are?

 

Ha. True true.

[cypress]

One of the biggest difficulties of meteorite evidence is determination of the source of the biological and possible fossil evidence. Given that the evidence is made up of historical singularity events, it is nearly impossible to eliminate the explanation that the original source of this biological evidence is earthly. Likewise it is not currently possible to confirm that the presumed fossils are indeed fossils.

[Ophiolite]

There remains a small, but finite possibility that the Viking landers detected life on Mars. Post facto discounting of positive results from the onborard experiments as being due to peroxides in the Martian soil are not wholly convincing.

[gustard33]

The best evidence Ive seen for life in space come from two sources, Firstly a meteorite which contained bacteria like structures :

 

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/marslife.html

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6660045/Bacteria-from-Mars-found-inside-ancient-meteorite.html

 

Though scientists are divided on the origin of the bateria. Still bacteria is hardly little green men with rayguns.

The other is far more strange and is known as the Red rain of Karrela and is very contraversal but possibly interesting :

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_rain_in_Kerala

 

Then of course there is the welll known life in space , on the third giant mud ball floating round the sun - thats enough to keep me amazed for now !

[cypress]

There remains a small, but finite possibility that the Viking landers detected life on Mars. Post facto discounting of positive results from the onborard experiments as being due to peroxides in the Martian soil are not wholly convincing.

 

Hmm, I wonder how someone might estimate the magnitude of that finite possibility. Do we just subjectively assign the value greater than one since the mission was and is incapable of determining that the probability of detecting life on Mars is zero or is the more to it than that?

[Ophiolite]

I am not sure that there would be any value in estimating the probability. The effort required for that might be better expended on revisiting the data and on designing future experiments that properly tested for the presence of life.

 

Two of the three experiments carried on the Viking craft produced results that it had been agreed prior to the landings would be evidence for life. Since the experiments did not produce all the results expected to be associated with life and since the mass spectrometer did not detect organic molecules, the conclusion was that simple chemistry was responsible for the results, not life.

 

I have always been troubled by that rather arbritrary and cavalier approach to the experimental data.

[Rip:20]

Short of returning a sample from Mars, or where ever, to earth for culturing tests, and detailed biochemical analysis, how can we really "prove" the existence of microbial life anywhere using remote sensing or data from landers/probes? Life inherently harnesses favorable reactions which can occur abioticaly, so microscopes and mass specs aboard landers would be my guess, but I don't know much about what you can fit on landers.

 

I've heard rumblings about the methane plumes on Mars, and searching O2 using spectrometry. Other ideas?

 

It could be a long time before we can confidently say microbes exist off plant, even if they are close by.

 

 

Think about this idea for a bit:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia

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Merged post follows:

Consecutive posts merged

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100606103125.htm

 

Cool stuff. Titan.

 

The Russian project to drill into lake Vostok has almost penetrated, I'm really looking forward to any results from that too.

Edited June 23, 2010 by Rip:20
Consecutive posts merged.

[Moontanman]

Titan is very interesting from a chemical point of view. i was hoping Titanides would have four legs and two arms and be 9 feet tall but I agree that microbes would be difficult to actually image and if they are different chemically than Earth life hard to detect chemically either.

[Cation]

A virus is not a living thing to be honest, if a is virus found, than there has to be life. i.e. some kind of microbrobes or bacteria, as a virus reproduces in a host cell. I also believe that if life is present certain criterias and conditions must bo obeyed. i.e. temperature,presence of water

Also, if life is to be present on a planet in another system beyond that of earth, that planet needs to lie in a particular area, not so far away from the sun neighter too close. That is what is known as the goldilock sun also known as the HZ (habitable zone) such as the earth itself.