Scientists Have Laid Out a Plan To Search For Life in the Universe (qz.com) 59
An anonymous reader shares a report: A blue-ribbon panel of researchers chaired by the University of Toronto's Barbara Sherwood Lollar assembled the report at the behest of the US Congress, which asked in a 2017 law that a "strategy for astrobiology" be developed to prioritize "the search for life's origin, evolution, distribution, and future in the universe." The 196-page report does not offer easy access to ET, but the steady drumbeat of scientific advancement it documents suggests an increasingly sophisticated understanding of what we know -- and don't know -- about biology on our planet and beyond.
Indeed, the recently gained knowledge it highlights is the front end of a wave: Only the Viking mission in the 1970s hunted rigorously for signs of life on other planets, and now the first new NASA mission to do so, the Europa lander, is being designed. In the past four years alone, scientists using data gathered by space probes on Mars discovered evidence of past surface water, the presence of nutrients and organic molecules, and methane gas in the atmosphere that varies by season. This doesn't mean life exists now on Mars, but it is helping contribute to an understanding of astrobiology as a discipline that looks at physical and chemical processes over time to determine if the conditions for life once existed or may do so in the future.
Much work on astrobiology is Earth-focused; it is the only place we know life exists and thus is our guinea pig for detecting life from a distance. The Galileo space probe found signs of life on our planet in 1990. The report stressed that recent discoveries of life on Earth that exists without the sun's energy, deep under the ocean or the ground, should inform what we look for on other worlds. Scientists are expanding their understanding of habitability beyond a binary and into a spectrum, which may sound trite, but previous research relied on blunt instruments and blunter assumptions about alien life -- starting with the idea that it would appear on the surface.
Indeed, the recently gained knowledge it highlights is the front end of a wave: Only the Viking mission in the 1970s hunted rigorously for signs of life on other planets, and now the first new NASA mission to do so, the Europa lander, is being designed. In the past four years alone, scientists using data gathered by space probes on Mars discovered evidence of past surface water, the presence of nutrients and organic molecules, and methane gas in the atmosphere that varies by season. This doesn't mean life exists now on Mars, but it is helping contribute to an understanding of astrobiology as a discipline that looks at physical and chemical processes over time to determine if the conditions for life once existed or may do so in the future.
Much work on astrobiology is Earth-focused; it is the only place we know life exists and thus is our guinea pig for detecting life from a distance. The Galileo space probe found signs of life on our planet in 1990. The report stressed that recent discoveries of life on Earth that exists without the sun's energy, deep under the ocean or the ground, should inform what we look for on other worlds. Scientists are expanding their understanding of habitability beyond a binary and into a spectrum, which may sound trite, but previous research relied on blunt instruments and blunter assumptions about alien life -- starting with the idea that it would appear on the surface.
I thought we were all a simulation (Score:2)
We are just aspect of some grand algorithm. I cannot even prove my existence.
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you should read about images on Plato's cave wall...to find out what's really real...
Unfortunately, those shadows are also simulations, as are all of Plato's writings - or so some would have us believe.
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any emanation of the all is as real as the all itself.
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Yes I took Philosophy 101,
And I am well aware, the argument about a simulation environment (brain in a jar) cannot be taken at value.
Because we can only operate our life based on how we experience it, and there is no evidence that we are being fed fake data, as fake data would normally just get us killed.
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Different people have different talents and interests. Forcing a biologist to work on a fusion reactor may not produce the results you'd like.
The purpose is to satisfy our curiosity. I would rather read about the discovery of alien lifeforms, than watch a football championship or play computer games.
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we'll send the tax for that to you then
Great, please make sure you deduct all the taxes for stuff that doesn't interest me.
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Re:complete and total waste of time and money... (Score:5, Informative)
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Europa Lander? (Score:2)
Wow, really?
Talk about a bad idea!
Headline: Scientists announce plan (Score:2)
Here is the plan:
1. Scientists announce plan to search for life in the universe
2. Extra-terrestrial life find out about the plan (Thanks, Fox News!)
3. Scientists do the exact opposite of the plan, having fooled most of the universe with mis-direction
4. Scientists discover intelligent life, thanks to clever ploy in Step 3.
5. Profit!
Re:This story is less than credible. (Score:4, Informative)
The point was to test if life could be detected from space.
We tested that idea using the only place we know life exists.
The test worked.
We now have a positive test result. We now know, for a fact, that life can be detected from space -because we did it.
Now the hard part - look for it elsewhere, and may, just maybe, get a positive result there too.
The larger point of the article is that while we're using tests for planet surface based life, when there's a decent chance for non-surface life. Therefore we need to expand the toolset we use, because we've become biased based on our test data (Earth).
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The larger point of the article is that while we're using tests for planet surface based life, when there's a decent chance for non-surface life. Therefore we need to expand the toolset we use, because we've become biased based on our test data (Earth).
Right, but this does sort of raise the problem that we don't know the boundaries of what life could be, so devising tests to scan for something that we don't know what we're looking for might be... not very productive. If an unknown form of life is living deep under the surface of a planet, we don't know what signs might be exhibited above the surface to indicate life-- or even that there will be any.
Not that I'd oppose a little research into the subject, but it doesn't make sense to me that it warrants m
Mars (Score:2)
Step #1 Conclusively prove there is no life on Mars.
Step #2 Put some on it to create Oxygen.
Terraforming is hard, best get started.
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Step #1 is very, very difficult -- particularly regarding life far below the surface in unusual habitats.
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Worse, it's logically impossible to prove something doesn't exist. At best we can be reasonably certain that life isn't widespread on Mars, there could always be an isolated underground pocket of frozen microbes. So far the best we've done is vaporize some soil from a few inches below the surface, and those results can't even conclusively rule out the possibility of life. We've literally only scratched the surface.
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blunter assumptions (Score:3)
Life evolves to fit environmental niches. It's not a stretch to hypothesize that some sort of continual environmental change might also be required for life to kick in - let alone evolve. I think you're likely to see more environmental change on a planet's surface. While you may be able to transplant life somewhere like Europa, the chance of it actually beginning there might be a lot less than if it were more dynamic.
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Volcanic vents under the see are more dynamic by any reasonable measure than the surface.
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I thought it was like Berlin?
Solar (Score:3)
The besr bet outside the solar system is teasing out the spectral lines of a star as it passes through the atmosphere of a planet in front of it, and looking for the kinds of complexity you only find with life.
It requires incredible tech but they're already getting there.
One issue I see (Score:4, Insightful)
How is this possible!? (Score:1)
In all seriousness, it's good to have
Actually, let's just stay here (Score:2)
... and run ourselves into the ground.
Let's assume we find a planet full of greenery and what appears to be a booming Triassic. What do you think will be the first industry created out of that?
Big Game Hunting, anyone?
People suck too much for our influence to spread across the universe. Let's not ruin everyone else's chances.