Tesla_WTC_Solution
25th October 2013, 18:51
Some people think that life started on Earth. Well, of course, there must have been a beginning somewhere -- but the trouble with hindsight in the absence of a constant and present observer (us) is that we tend to count the "trend toward a proliferation of life" as being more important than the actual "source" of life.
I feel that many scientists have questions which may be quite difficult to answer until interest in the funding of space exploration increases. Quite a lot of people are content spending their money on food, games, pleasure -- and not research. There is not enough interest in or effort toward solving the riddle of how life arises in a Solar System like our own.
I Googled "effect of strong rotating magnetic fields on DNA" this morning or last night. That search yields a lot of troublesome information that I am currently unable to interpret. However, some of the pages linked to that search were quite interesting -- in the context of the Cassini missions to Saturn and Titan that I mentioned in my thread yesterday or the day before (about the Pharaohs' inclusion of the Golden Mean Spiral in the Pyramid design, the link between the spiral and trajectories taken by spacecraft performing gravity assisted flybys in order to reach the outer planets).
Well, I guess what got me going on this next thread which we are reading now is, most people know that Saturn has a very strange and powerful magnetic field:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetosphere_of_Saturn
The magnetosphere of Saturn is the cavity created in the flow of the solar wind by the planet's internally generated magnetic field. Discovered in 1979 by the Pioneer 11 spacecraft, Saturn's magnetosphere is the second largest of any planet in the Solar System after Jupiter. The magnetopause, the boundary between Saturn's magnetosphere and the solar wind, is located at a distance of about 20 Saturn radii from the planet's center, while its magnetotail stretches hundreds of radii behind it.
Saturn's magnetosphere is filled with plasmas originating from both the planet and its moons. The main source is the small moon Enceladus, which ejects as much as 1,000 kg/s of water vapor from the geysers on its south pole, a portion of which is ionized and forced to co-rotate with the Saturn’s magnetic field. This loads the field with as much as 100 kg of water group ions per second. This plasma gradually moves out from the inner magnetosphere via the interchange instability mechanism and then escapes through the magnetotail.
The interaction between Saturn's magnetosphere and the solar wind generates bright oval aurorae around the planet's poles observed in visible, infrared and ultraviolet light. The aurorae are related to the powerful saturnian kilometric radiation (SKR), which spans the frequency interval between 100 kHz to 1300 kHz and was once thought to modulate with a period equal to the planet's rotation. However, later measurements showed that the periodicity of the SKR's modulation varies by as much as 1%, and so probably does not exactly coincide with Saturn’s true rotational period, which as of 2010 remains unknown. Inside the magnetosphere there are radiation belts, which house particles with energy as high as tens of Megaelectronvolts. The energetic particles have significant influence on the surfaces of inner icy moons of Saturn.
In 1980–1981 the magnetosphere of Saturn was studied by the Voyager spacecraft. As of 2010 it is a subject of the ongoing investigation by Cassini mission, which arrived in 2004.
You can see that because of Saturn's moons being able to maintain a fairly constant exhalation of water and other vapors, and while these vapors and other building blocks of life interact with Saturn's large magnetic field while also encountering events relatively anomalous to the production of life, like plasmas, there is great potential in the Saturn system -- because of its inherent conditions -- to produce life forms.
One of the studies I glanced at regarding the effects of electron spin and DNA:
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2011/feb/17/dna-puts-a-new-spin-on-electrons
DNA puts a new spin on electrons
Feb 17, 2011
Benefits of DNA
Looking ahead, Naaman believes that spin devices based on organic materials such as DNA could offer several benefits. One is that spin-polarized currents should travel further in such materials – compared with metals – because the strength of the spin–orbit coupling is much smaller and because the spins are less likely to interact with vibrations in the material. Another benefit is that the ends of the DNA can be modified with a wide range of chemicals, which could make it possible to connect DNA devices to spintronic circuits in such a way that the spin polarization is not degraded at the connection.
However, Rikken is more cautious about the work. "I do not think that DNA films would be a welcome component in spintronic devices," he says. But he does think that other chiral structures could find application in spintronics – if chirality is found to be the mechanism behind the filtering, that is.
Beyond spintronics, the discovery that DNA has a strong effect on electron spin suggests that spin interactions could also play a role in some biological processes. Indeed, Naaman believes that studies of spin in biomolecules could shed light on poorly understood low-energy biochemical processes that occur in nature.
The spin filter is described in Science 331 894.
About the author
Hamish Johnston is editor of physicsworld.com
It says in that paper that "spin interactions may also play a role in some biological processes".
My theory is that the dynamically electric layers of ions and other interactions of substances present between the surface of Saturn and the surface of its relative moons may create an environment that gives rise to novel types of microbial life.
Many other scientists expect to find life near Saturn.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_(moon)#Methane_and_life_at_the_surface
Methane and life at the surface
See also: Hypothetical types of biochemistry
It has been suggested that life could exist in the lakes of liquid methane on Titan, just as organisms on Earth live in water.[132] Such creatures would inhale H2 in place of O2, metabolize it with acetylene instead of glucose, and exhale methane instead of carbon dioxide.[132][133]
Although all living things on Earth (including methanogens) use liquid water as a solvent, it is speculated that life on Titan might instead use a liquid hydrocarbon, such as methane or ethane.[134] Water is a stronger solvent than methane.[135] However, water is also more chemically reactive, and can break down large organic molecules through hydrolysis.[134] A life-form whose solvent was a hydrocarbon would not face the risk of its biomolecules being destroyed in this way.[134]
In 2005, astrobiologist Chris McKay argued that if methanogenic life did exist on the surface of Titan, it would likely have a measurable effect on the mixing ratio in the Titan troposphere: levels of hydrogen and acetylene would be measurably lower than otherwise expected.[132]
In 2010, Darrell Strobel, from Johns Hopkins University, identified a greater abundance of molecular hydrogen in the upper atmospheric layers of Titan compared to the lower layers, arguing for a downward flow at a rate of roughly 1025 molecules per second and disappearance of hydrogen near Titan's surface; as Strobel noted, his findings were in line with the effects McKay had predicted if methanogenic life-forms were present.[132][135][136] The same year, another study showed low levels of acetylene on Titan's surface, which were interpreted by McKay as consistent with the hypothesis of organisms consuming hydrocarbons.[135] Although restating the biological hypothesis, he cautioned that other explanations for the hydrogen and acetylene findings are more likely: the possibilities of yet unidentified physical or chemical processes (e.g., a surface catalyst accepting hydrocarbons or hydrogen), or flaws in the current models of material flow.[137] Composition data and transport models need to be substantiated, and per Occam's razor, a physical or chemical explanation is preferred a priori over one of biology (given the simplicity of chemical catalysts versus the complexity of biological forms). Even so, McKay noted that the discovery of a catalyst effective at 95 K (−180 °C) would still be significant.[125]
As NASA notes in its news article on the June 2010 findings: "To date, methane-based life forms are only hypothetical. Scientists have not yet detected this form of life anywhere".[135] As the NASA statement also says: "some scientists believe these chemical signatures bolster the argument for a primitive, exotic form of life or precursor to life on Titan's surface."[135]
I think it's possible that the surface is the wrong place to look for life in some cases. NASA already knows this, and you can deduce the reason for atmospheric balloon research on Titan and other moons.
Those of you familiar with Michael Crichton's "THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN" already understand that life has potential to be found at ALL levels of material existence, from the densest star's heart to the absolute cold between them. The upper atmosphere is a wonderful place to look for life on other planets and their moons, in fact. This region could be the fountainhead of microbial evolution, given the right conditions.
Given conditions like Saturn and its very special moons...
How many people in this section of the forum have read James P Hogan's "CRADLE OF SATURN"? Yet another great scientist and novelist tackles the question of whether conditions near Saturn are not more capable of producing and sustaining life in the long run than those on Earth.
Perhaps Earth is a temporary holding station for life, and not its source. Much as asteroids may contain gold and other metals, but did not produce them -- stars produced them -- Earth holds life, but likely cannot claim responsibility for having produced all of it.
http://www.quantumday.com/2013/09/presence-of-atmosphere-and-water-on.html
Novel experimental approaches for fundamental studies of laboratory astrochemistry
Arthur Suits, Bernadette M. Broderick, Yumin Lee, James Oldham, Kirill Prozument, Chamara Abeysekara, Barratt Park, Robert W. Field.
Department of Chemistry
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI 48202, United States
Chemistry
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
Two novel techniques enabling diverse probes of the chemistry of the atmospheres of outer planets are being developed in our laboratories. The study of spin-polarized hydrogen atoms which result from photodissociation of molecules offers a powerful new means of unraveling complex photochemical processes in polyatomic molecules. Examination of the detailed speed-dependent H-atom spin polarization is achieved by determining the projection of the electron spin onto the probe laser direction. In doing so, its angular distribution, complex dissociation pathways, and coherent excitation mechanisms may be revealed. Here we have adapted the H atom Rydberg tagging technique with its extraordinary velocity resolution to give the velocity-dependent H atom spin polarization. The methodology described herein serves as a general probe of multi-surface nonadiabatic dynamics, sensitive to coherent effects in dissociation along multiple paths, and is applicable to a wide range of astrochemically-relevant polyatomic systems.
I found another blog just now that raises the question this thread is raising:
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2011/08/is-the-atmosphere-of-saturns-moon-titan-capable-of-evolving-dna-todays-most-popular.html
August 25, 2011
Is the Atmosphere of Saturn's Moon, Titan Capable of Evolving DNA? (Today's Most Popular)
Saturn's moon Titan has many of the components for life without liquid water. But the orange hydrocarbon haze that shrouds the planet's largest moon could be creating the molecules that make up DNA without the help of water – an ingredient widely thought to be necessary for the molecules' formation according to a recent study.
As Paul Davies, a leading authority in astrobiology, director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science and co-director of the ASU Cosmology Initiative, says: "To the best of our knowledge, the original chemicals chosen by known life on Earth do not constitute a unique set; other choices could have been made, and maybe were made if life started elsewhere many times."
The researchers warn however that although Titan's atmosphere is creating these molecules, that doesn't mean that the molecules are combining to form life, But the finding could entice astrobiologists to consider a wider range of extrasolar planets as potential hosts for at least simple forms of organic life, the team of scientists from the US and France suggests.
The findings also suggest that billions of years ago Earth's upper atmosphere – not just the so-called primordial soup on the surface – may have been the sources for these "prebiotic" molecules, amino acids and the so-called nucleotide bases that make up DNA.
And a great Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothetical_types_of_biochemistry
Hypothetical types of biochemistry are forms of biochemistry speculated to be scientifically viable but not proven to exist at this time. While the kinds of living beings currently known on Earth commonly use carbon for basic structural and metabolic functions, water as a solvent and DNA or RNA to define and control their form, it may be possible that undiscovered life-forms could exist that differ radically in their basic structures and biochemistry from that known to science.
The possibility of extraterrestrial life being based on these "alternative" biochemistries is a common subject in science fiction, but is also discussed in a non-fiction scientific context.
...
The ammonia molecule (NH3), like the water molecule, is abundant in the universe, being a compound of hydrogen (the simplest and most common element) with another very common element, nitrogen.[35] The possible role of liquid ammonia as an alternative solvent for life is an idea that goes back at least to 1954, when J.B.S. Haldane raised the topic at a symposium about life's origin.[36]
Numerous chemical reactions are possible in an ammonia solution, and liquid ammonia has chemical similarities with water.[35][37] Ammonia can dissolve most organic molecules at least as well as water does and, in addition, it is capable of dissolving many elemental metals. Haldane made the point that various common water-related organic compounds have ammonia-related analogs; for instance the ammonia-related amine group (-NH2) is analogous to the water-related alcohol group (-OH).[37]
Ammonia, like water, can either accept or donate an H+ ion. When ammonia accepts an H+, it forms the ammonium cation (NH4+), analogous to hydronium (H3O+). When it donates an H+ ion, it forms the amide anion (NH2−), analogous to the hydroxide anion (OH−).[27] Compared to water, however, ammonia is more inclined to accept an H+ ion, and less inclined to donate one; it is a stronger nucleophile.[27] Ammonia added to water functions as Arrhenius base: it increases the concentration of the anion hydroxide. Conversely, using a solvent system definition of acidity and basicity, water added to liquid ammonia functions as an acid, because it increases the concentration of the cation ammonium.[37] The carbonyl group (C=O), which is much used in terrestrial biochemistry, would not be stable in ammonia solution, but the analogous imine group (C=N) could be used instead.[27]
However, ammonia has some problems as a basis for life. The hydrogen bonds between ammonia molecules are weaker than those in water, causing ammonia's heat of vaporization to be half that of water, its surface tension to be a third, and reducing its ability to concentrate non-polar molecules through a hydrophobic effect. Gerald Feinberg and Robert Shapiro have questioned whether ammonia could hold prebiotic molecules together well enough to allow the emergence of a self-reproducing system.[38] Ammonia is also flammable in oxygen, and could not exist sustainably in an environment suitable for aerobic metabolism.[39]
A biosphere based on ammonia would likely exist at temperatures or air pressures that are extremely unusual in relation to life on Earth. Life on Earth usually exists within the melting point and boiling point of water at normal pressure, between 0 °C (273 K) and 100 °C (373 K); at normal pressure ammonia's melting and boiling points are between −78 °C (195 K) and −33 °C (240 K). Chemical reactions generally proceed more slowly at a lower temperature, therefore liquid-ammonia life, if it exists, might metabolize more slowly and evolve more slowly than life on Earth.[39] On the other hand, lower temperatures could also enable living systems to use chemical species which at Earth temperatures would be too unstable to be useful.[35]
Ammonia could be a liquid at Earth-like temperatures, but at much higher pressures; for example, at 60 atm, ammonia melts at −77 °C (196 K) and boils at 98 °C (371 K).[27]
Ammonia and ammonia–water mixtures remain liquid at temperatures far below the freezing point of pure water, so such biochemistries might be well suited to planets and moons orbiting outside the water-based habitability zone. Such conditions could exist, for example, under the surface of Saturn's largest moon Titan.[40]
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/Ammonia_World.jpg/600px-Ammonia_World.jpg
Methane (CH4) is a simple hydrocarbon: that is, a compound of two of the most common elements in the cosmos, hydrogen and carbon. It has a cosmic abundance comparable with ammonia.[35] Hydrocarbons could act as a solvent over a wide range of temperatures, but would lack polarity. Isaac Asimov, the biochemist and science fiction writer, suggested in 1981 that poly-lipids could form a substitute for proteins in a non-polar solvent such as methane.[35] Lakes composed of a mixture of hydrocarbons, including methane and ethane, have been detected on Titan by the Cassini spacecraft.
There is debate about the effectiveness of methane and other hydrocarbons as a medium for life compared to water or ammonia.[41] Water is a stronger solvent than the hydrocarbons, enabling easier transport of substances in a cell.[42] However, water is also more chemically reactive, and can break down large organic molecules through hydrolysis.[41] A life-form whose solvent was a hydrocarbon would not face the threat of its biomolecules being destroyed in this way.[41] Also, the water molecule's tendency to form strong hydrogen bonds can interfere with internal hydrogen bonding in complex organic molecules.[34] Life with a hydrocarbon solvent could make more use of hydrogen bonds within its biomolecules.[41] Moreover, the strength of hydrogen bonds within biomolecules would be appropriate to a low temperature biochemistry.[41]
Astrobiologist Chris McKay has argued, on thermodynamic grounds, that if life does exist on Titan's surface, using hydrocarbons as a solvent, it is likely also to use the more complex hydrocarbons as an energy source by reacting them with hydrogen, reducing ethane and acetylene to methane.[43] Possible evidence for this form of life on Titan was identified in 2010 by Darrell Strobel of Johns Hopkins University; a greater abundance of molecular hydrogen in the upper atmospheric layers of Titan compared to the lower layers, arguing for a downward diffusion at a rate of roughly 1025 molecules per second and disappearance of hydrogen near Titan's surface. As Strobel noted, his findings were in line with the effects Chris McKay had predicted if methanogenic life-forms were present.[42][43][44] The same year, another study showed low levels of acetylene on Titan's surface, which were interpreted by Chris McKay as consistent with the hypothesis of organisms reducing acetylene to methane.[42] While restating the biological hypothesis, McKay cautioned that other explanations for the hydrogen and acetylene findings are to be considered more likely: the possibilities of yet unidentified physical or chemical processes (e.g., a non-living surface catalyst enabling acetylene to react with hydrogen), or flaws in the current models of material flow.[45] He noted that even a non-biological catalyst, effective at 95 Kelvin, would in itself be a startling discovery.[45]
(While Mars is not known to have liquid methane, methane gas in its atmosphere is of astrobiological interest as a substance that might be produced by living organisms.[46] See Life on Mars.)
I thought the same thing about Mars. People tend to remember the thing about methane on Mars accounting for the color of its sunrise and sunset. Isn't it blue, when viewed from the surface of Mars?
It is possible that when the surface water of Mars receded into the Ice caps and presumably into locked underground pools (similar to pre-deluge earth I guess), methane-producing life diminished but did not entirely disappear.
There is enough of the gas to account for what a hypothetical "remnant" of Mars' former repertoire of life-forms might produce -- but these "unseen" life-forms are practically in the realm of crytozoology at this point, because a surface soil sample isn't the same as drilling into the crust to access water.
"Water is life" ~DUNE
I hope some of the above information made sense together; life on other planets is something that is starting to really interest me.
In the context of writing about Titan and life on other world right before the NASA feed account posted about the Cassini mission to Titan this week, I am a little bit freaked out!
:)
I feel that many scientists have questions which may be quite difficult to answer until interest in the funding of space exploration increases. Quite a lot of people are content spending their money on food, games, pleasure -- and not research. There is not enough interest in or effort toward solving the riddle of how life arises in a Solar System like our own.
I Googled "effect of strong rotating magnetic fields on DNA" this morning or last night. That search yields a lot of troublesome information that I am currently unable to interpret. However, some of the pages linked to that search were quite interesting -- in the context of the Cassini missions to Saturn and Titan that I mentioned in my thread yesterday or the day before (about the Pharaohs' inclusion of the Golden Mean Spiral in the Pyramid design, the link between the spiral and trajectories taken by spacecraft performing gravity assisted flybys in order to reach the outer planets).
Well, I guess what got me going on this next thread which we are reading now is, most people know that Saturn has a very strange and powerful magnetic field:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetosphere_of_Saturn
The magnetosphere of Saturn is the cavity created in the flow of the solar wind by the planet's internally generated magnetic field. Discovered in 1979 by the Pioneer 11 spacecraft, Saturn's magnetosphere is the second largest of any planet in the Solar System after Jupiter. The magnetopause, the boundary between Saturn's magnetosphere and the solar wind, is located at a distance of about 20 Saturn radii from the planet's center, while its magnetotail stretches hundreds of radii behind it.
Saturn's magnetosphere is filled with plasmas originating from both the planet and its moons. The main source is the small moon Enceladus, which ejects as much as 1,000 kg/s of water vapor from the geysers on its south pole, a portion of which is ionized and forced to co-rotate with the Saturn’s magnetic field. This loads the field with as much as 100 kg of water group ions per second. This plasma gradually moves out from the inner magnetosphere via the interchange instability mechanism and then escapes through the magnetotail.
The interaction between Saturn's magnetosphere and the solar wind generates bright oval aurorae around the planet's poles observed in visible, infrared and ultraviolet light. The aurorae are related to the powerful saturnian kilometric radiation (SKR), which spans the frequency interval between 100 kHz to 1300 kHz and was once thought to modulate with a period equal to the planet's rotation. However, later measurements showed that the periodicity of the SKR's modulation varies by as much as 1%, and so probably does not exactly coincide with Saturn’s true rotational period, which as of 2010 remains unknown. Inside the magnetosphere there are radiation belts, which house particles with energy as high as tens of Megaelectronvolts. The energetic particles have significant influence on the surfaces of inner icy moons of Saturn.
In 1980–1981 the magnetosphere of Saturn was studied by the Voyager spacecraft. As of 2010 it is a subject of the ongoing investigation by Cassini mission, which arrived in 2004.
You can see that because of Saturn's moons being able to maintain a fairly constant exhalation of water and other vapors, and while these vapors and other building blocks of life interact with Saturn's large magnetic field while also encountering events relatively anomalous to the production of life, like plasmas, there is great potential in the Saturn system -- because of its inherent conditions -- to produce life forms.
One of the studies I glanced at regarding the effects of electron spin and DNA:
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2011/feb/17/dna-puts-a-new-spin-on-electrons
DNA puts a new spin on electrons
Feb 17, 2011
Benefits of DNA
Looking ahead, Naaman believes that spin devices based on organic materials such as DNA could offer several benefits. One is that spin-polarized currents should travel further in such materials – compared with metals – because the strength of the spin–orbit coupling is much smaller and because the spins are less likely to interact with vibrations in the material. Another benefit is that the ends of the DNA can be modified with a wide range of chemicals, which could make it possible to connect DNA devices to spintronic circuits in such a way that the spin polarization is not degraded at the connection.
However, Rikken is more cautious about the work. "I do not think that DNA films would be a welcome component in spintronic devices," he says. But he does think that other chiral structures could find application in spintronics – if chirality is found to be the mechanism behind the filtering, that is.
Beyond spintronics, the discovery that DNA has a strong effect on electron spin suggests that spin interactions could also play a role in some biological processes. Indeed, Naaman believes that studies of spin in biomolecules could shed light on poorly understood low-energy biochemical processes that occur in nature.
The spin filter is described in Science 331 894.
About the author
Hamish Johnston is editor of physicsworld.com
It says in that paper that "spin interactions may also play a role in some biological processes".
My theory is that the dynamically electric layers of ions and other interactions of substances present between the surface of Saturn and the surface of its relative moons may create an environment that gives rise to novel types of microbial life.
Many other scientists expect to find life near Saturn.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_(moon)#Methane_and_life_at_the_surface
Methane and life at the surface
See also: Hypothetical types of biochemistry
It has been suggested that life could exist in the lakes of liquid methane on Titan, just as organisms on Earth live in water.[132] Such creatures would inhale H2 in place of O2, metabolize it with acetylene instead of glucose, and exhale methane instead of carbon dioxide.[132][133]
Although all living things on Earth (including methanogens) use liquid water as a solvent, it is speculated that life on Titan might instead use a liquid hydrocarbon, such as methane or ethane.[134] Water is a stronger solvent than methane.[135] However, water is also more chemically reactive, and can break down large organic molecules through hydrolysis.[134] A life-form whose solvent was a hydrocarbon would not face the risk of its biomolecules being destroyed in this way.[134]
In 2005, astrobiologist Chris McKay argued that if methanogenic life did exist on the surface of Titan, it would likely have a measurable effect on the mixing ratio in the Titan troposphere: levels of hydrogen and acetylene would be measurably lower than otherwise expected.[132]
In 2010, Darrell Strobel, from Johns Hopkins University, identified a greater abundance of molecular hydrogen in the upper atmospheric layers of Titan compared to the lower layers, arguing for a downward flow at a rate of roughly 1025 molecules per second and disappearance of hydrogen near Titan's surface; as Strobel noted, his findings were in line with the effects McKay had predicted if methanogenic life-forms were present.[132][135][136] The same year, another study showed low levels of acetylene on Titan's surface, which were interpreted by McKay as consistent with the hypothesis of organisms consuming hydrocarbons.[135] Although restating the biological hypothesis, he cautioned that other explanations for the hydrogen and acetylene findings are more likely: the possibilities of yet unidentified physical or chemical processes (e.g., a surface catalyst accepting hydrocarbons or hydrogen), or flaws in the current models of material flow.[137] Composition data and transport models need to be substantiated, and per Occam's razor, a physical or chemical explanation is preferred a priori over one of biology (given the simplicity of chemical catalysts versus the complexity of biological forms). Even so, McKay noted that the discovery of a catalyst effective at 95 K (−180 °C) would still be significant.[125]
As NASA notes in its news article on the June 2010 findings: "To date, methane-based life forms are only hypothetical. Scientists have not yet detected this form of life anywhere".[135] As the NASA statement also says: "some scientists believe these chemical signatures bolster the argument for a primitive, exotic form of life or precursor to life on Titan's surface."[135]
I think it's possible that the surface is the wrong place to look for life in some cases. NASA already knows this, and you can deduce the reason for atmospheric balloon research on Titan and other moons.
Those of you familiar with Michael Crichton's "THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN" already understand that life has potential to be found at ALL levels of material existence, from the densest star's heart to the absolute cold between them. The upper atmosphere is a wonderful place to look for life on other planets and their moons, in fact. This region could be the fountainhead of microbial evolution, given the right conditions.
Given conditions like Saturn and its very special moons...
How many people in this section of the forum have read James P Hogan's "CRADLE OF SATURN"? Yet another great scientist and novelist tackles the question of whether conditions near Saturn are not more capable of producing and sustaining life in the long run than those on Earth.
Perhaps Earth is a temporary holding station for life, and not its source. Much as asteroids may contain gold and other metals, but did not produce them -- stars produced them -- Earth holds life, but likely cannot claim responsibility for having produced all of it.
http://www.quantumday.com/2013/09/presence-of-atmosphere-and-water-on.html
Novel experimental approaches for fundamental studies of laboratory astrochemistry
Arthur Suits, Bernadette M. Broderick, Yumin Lee, James Oldham, Kirill Prozument, Chamara Abeysekara, Barratt Park, Robert W. Field.
Department of Chemistry
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI 48202, United States
Chemistry
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
Two novel techniques enabling diverse probes of the chemistry of the atmospheres of outer planets are being developed in our laboratories. The study of spin-polarized hydrogen atoms which result from photodissociation of molecules offers a powerful new means of unraveling complex photochemical processes in polyatomic molecules. Examination of the detailed speed-dependent H-atom spin polarization is achieved by determining the projection of the electron spin onto the probe laser direction. In doing so, its angular distribution, complex dissociation pathways, and coherent excitation mechanisms may be revealed. Here we have adapted the H atom Rydberg tagging technique with its extraordinary velocity resolution to give the velocity-dependent H atom spin polarization. The methodology described herein serves as a general probe of multi-surface nonadiabatic dynamics, sensitive to coherent effects in dissociation along multiple paths, and is applicable to a wide range of astrochemically-relevant polyatomic systems.
I found another blog just now that raises the question this thread is raising:
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2011/08/is-the-atmosphere-of-saturns-moon-titan-capable-of-evolving-dna-todays-most-popular.html
August 25, 2011
Is the Atmosphere of Saturn's Moon, Titan Capable of Evolving DNA? (Today's Most Popular)
Saturn's moon Titan has many of the components for life without liquid water. But the orange hydrocarbon haze that shrouds the planet's largest moon could be creating the molecules that make up DNA without the help of water – an ingredient widely thought to be necessary for the molecules' formation according to a recent study.
As Paul Davies, a leading authority in astrobiology, director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science and co-director of the ASU Cosmology Initiative, says: "To the best of our knowledge, the original chemicals chosen by known life on Earth do not constitute a unique set; other choices could have been made, and maybe were made if life started elsewhere many times."
The researchers warn however that although Titan's atmosphere is creating these molecules, that doesn't mean that the molecules are combining to form life, But the finding could entice astrobiologists to consider a wider range of extrasolar planets as potential hosts for at least simple forms of organic life, the team of scientists from the US and France suggests.
The findings also suggest that billions of years ago Earth's upper atmosphere – not just the so-called primordial soup on the surface – may have been the sources for these "prebiotic" molecules, amino acids and the so-called nucleotide bases that make up DNA.
And a great Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothetical_types_of_biochemistry
Hypothetical types of biochemistry are forms of biochemistry speculated to be scientifically viable but not proven to exist at this time. While the kinds of living beings currently known on Earth commonly use carbon for basic structural and metabolic functions, water as a solvent and DNA or RNA to define and control their form, it may be possible that undiscovered life-forms could exist that differ radically in their basic structures and biochemistry from that known to science.
The possibility of extraterrestrial life being based on these "alternative" biochemistries is a common subject in science fiction, but is also discussed in a non-fiction scientific context.
...
The ammonia molecule (NH3), like the water molecule, is abundant in the universe, being a compound of hydrogen (the simplest and most common element) with another very common element, nitrogen.[35] The possible role of liquid ammonia as an alternative solvent for life is an idea that goes back at least to 1954, when J.B.S. Haldane raised the topic at a symposium about life's origin.[36]
Numerous chemical reactions are possible in an ammonia solution, and liquid ammonia has chemical similarities with water.[35][37] Ammonia can dissolve most organic molecules at least as well as water does and, in addition, it is capable of dissolving many elemental metals. Haldane made the point that various common water-related organic compounds have ammonia-related analogs; for instance the ammonia-related amine group (-NH2) is analogous to the water-related alcohol group (-OH).[37]
Ammonia, like water, can either accept or donate an H+ ion. When ammonia accepts an H+, it forms the ammonium cation (NH4+), analogous to hydronium (H3O+). When it donates an H+ ion, it forms the amide anion (NH2−), analogous to the hydroxide anion (OH−).[27] Compared to water, however, ammonia is more inclined to accept an H+ ion, and less inclined to donate one; it is a stronger nucleophile.[27] Ammonia added to water functions as Arrhenius base: it increases the concentration of the anion hydroxide. Conversely, using a solvent system definition of acidity and basicity, water added to liquid ammonia functions as an acid, because it increases the concentration of the cation ammonium.[37] The carbonyl group (C=O), which is much used in terrestrial biochemistry, would not be stable in ammonia solution, but the analogous imine group (C=N) could be used instead.[27]
However, ammonia has some problems as a basis for life. The hydrogen bonds between ammonia molecules are weaker than those in water, causing ammonia's heat of vaporization to be half that of water, its surface tension to be a third, and reducing its ability to concentrate non-polar molecules through a hydrophobic effect. Gerald Feinberg and Robert Shapiro have questioned whether ammonia could hold prebiotic molecules together well enough to allow the emergence of a self-reproducing system.[38] Ammonia is also flammable in oxygen, and could not exist sustainably in an environment suitable for aerobic metabolism.[39]
A biosphere based on ammonia would likely exist at temperatures or air pressures that are extremely unusual in relation to life on Earth. Life on Earth usually exists within the melting point and boiling point of water at normal pressure, between 0 °C (273 K) and 100 °C (373 K); at normal pressure ammonia's melting and boiling points are between −78 °C (195 K) and −33 °C (240 K). Chemical reactions generally proceed more slowly at a lower temperature, therefore liquid-ammonia life, if it exists, might metabolize more slowly and evolve more slowly than life on Earth.[39] On the other hand, lower temperatures could also enable living systems to use chemical species which at Earth temperatures would be too unstable to be useful.[35]
Ammonia could be a liquid at Earth-like temperatures, but at much higher pressures; for example, at 60 atm, ammonia melts at −77 °C (196 K) and boils at 98 °C (371 K).[27]
Ammonia and ammonia–water mixtures remain liquid at temperatures far below the freezing point of pure water, so such biochemistries might be well suited to planets and moons orbiting outside the water-based habitability zone. Such conditions could exist, for example, under the surface of Saturn's largest moon Titan.[40]
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/Ammonia_World.jpg/600px-Ammonia_World.jpg
Methane (CH4) is a simple hydrocarbon: that is, a compound of two of the most common elements in the cosmos, hydrogen and carbon. It has a cosmic abundance comparable with ammonia.[35] Hydrocarbons could act as a solvent over a wide range of temperatures, but would lack polarity. Isaac Asimov, the biochemist and science fiction writer, suggested in 1981 that poly-lipids could form a substitute for proteins in a non-polar solvent such as methane.[35] Lakes composed of a mixture of hydrocarbons, including methane and ethane, have been detected on Titan by the Cassini spacecraft.
There is debate about the effectiveness of methane and other hydrocarbons as a medium for life compared to water or ammonia.[41] Water is a stronger solvent than the hydrocarbons, enabling easier transport of substances in a cell.[42] However, water is also more chemically reactive, and can break down large organic molecules through hydrolysis.[41] A life-form whose solvent was a hydrocarbon would not face the threat of its biomolecules being destroyed in this way.[41] Also, the water molecule's tendency to form strong hydrogen bonds can interfere with internal hydrogen bonding in complex organic molecules.[34] Life with a hydrocarbon solvent could make more use of hydrogen bonds within its biomolecules.[41] Moreover, the strength of hydrogen bonds within biomolecules would be appropriate to a low temperature biochemistry.[41]
Astrobiologist Chris McKay has argued, on thermodynamic grounds, that if life does exist on Titan's surface, using hydrocarbons as a solvent, it is likely also to use the more complex hydrocarbons as an energy source by reacting them with hydrogen, reducing ethane and acetylene to methane.[43] Possible evidence for this form of life on Titan was identified in 2010 by Darrell Strobel of Johns Hopkins University; a greater abundance of molecular hydrogen in the upper atmospheric layers of Titan compared to the lower layers, arguing for a downward diffusion at a rate of roughly 1025 molecules per second and disappearance of hydrogen near Titan's surface. As Strobel noted, his findings were in line with the effects Chris McKay had predicted if methanogenic life-forms were present.[42][43][44] The same year, another study showed low levels of acetylene on Titan's surface, which were interpreted by Chris McKay as consistent with the hypothesis of organisms reducing acetylene to methane.[42] While restating the biological hypothesis, McKay cautioned that other explanations for the hydrogen and acetylene findings are to be considered more likely: the possibilities of yet unidentified physical or chemical processes (e.g., a non-living surface catalyst enabling acetylene to react with hydrogen), or flaws in the current models of material flow.[45] He noted that even a non-biological catalyst, effective at 95 Kelvin, would in itself be a startling discovery.[45]
(While Mars is not known to have liquid methane, methane gas in its atmosphere is of astrobiological interest as a substance that might be produced by living organisms.[46] See Life on Mars.)
I thought the same thing about Mars. People tend to remember the thing about methane on Mars accounting for the color of its sunrise and sunset. Isn't it blue, when viewed from the surface of Mars?
It is possible that when the surface water of Mars receded into the Ice caps and presumably into locked underground pools (similar to pre-deluge earth I guess), methane-producing life diminished but did not entirely disappear.
There is enough of the gas to account for what a hypothetical "remnant" of Mars' former repertoire of life-forms might produce -- but these "unseen" life-forms are practically in the realm of crytozoology at this point, because a surface soil sample isn't the same as drilling into the crust to access water.
"Water is life" ~DUNE
I hope some of the above information made sense together; life on other planets is something that is starting to really interest me.
In the context of writing about Titan and life on other world right before the NASA feed account posted about the Cassini mission to Titan this week, I am a little bit freaked out!
:)