Revelations in the Ocean Crust
by BradfordNew research into the deep ocean floor yields promising results for microbiologists is a EurekAlert article. If there is a biological frontier where might that be? Beneath the floor of the ocean deep perhaps. A huge biological reservoir could be located there. Post-doctoral fellow at Aarhus University in Denmark and the University of Southern California, Beth Orcutt, is quoted as saying:
There may be new species of life and new types of metabolism that we haven't discovered yet. The seafloor and sub-seafloor are exciting environments where microbes rule. We have to develop sophisticated experiments to try to learn more about these microbial habitats, experiments which will reveal new information about how life survives and thrives on Earth and maybe about how life may exist on other planets.
Orcutt has good cause for enthusiasm. It sounds as if there are exciting times awaiting her but I'm dubious that much will be learned about life on other planets. Wouldn't it be more likely that if life arose somewhere else in the universe it would occur in conditions that are similar to non-extreme as opposed to extreme earthly conditions?
June 15th, 2010 at 11:47 pm
Why?
Comment by ully — June 15, 2010 @ 11:47 pm
June 16th, 2010 at 11:53 am
We know of only one place in the universe which is host to life so we can expect that minimal conditions needed for life would apply elsewhere i.e. a temperature range, water, an atmosphere…
As for extreme conditions, organisms adapted to them on earth have unique properties; refinements of more basic structures rather than novel genomic templates.
Comment by Bradford — June 16, 2010 @ 11:53 am
June 16th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
A friend of mine once suggested that the budgets of NOAA and NASA be swapped. It is sounding like a better idea all the time.
Comment by johnnyb — June 16, 2010 @ 12:03 pm
June 16th, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Conditions on earth 4 billion years ago were different from conditions on earth now. Would the early conditions be considered extreme now? For example, there was apparently hardly any free oxygen around in the good old days.
Moreover, we don't know under what conditions life first arose on earth. Perhaps it first evolved under conditions now considered extreme.
Just saying.
Comment by ully — June 16, 2010 @ 8:35 pm