Is There A Giant Life Form Lurking In Our Solar System? Possibly, Say Scientists
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Re: Is There A Giant Life Form Lurking In Our Solar System? Possibly, Say Scientists
#2God says...
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bsistence. The work which is performed in this manner, it has already been observed, comes always much cheaper to market than that which is the principal or sole fund of the workman's subsistence. The fine manufacture, on the other hand, was not, in those times, carried on in England, but in the rich and commercial country of Flanders; and it was probably conducted then, in the same manner as now, by people who derived the whole, or the principal part of their subsistence from it. It was, besides, a
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Re: Is There A Giant Life Form Lurking In Our Solar System? Possibly, Say Scientists
#3It's our biases that show in our implicit assumption that life must operate on the spatial and temporal scales of large animals on Earth. Cryogenic life might well be a lot slower than the typical animal on Earth. It's a lot colder on Titan. Energy is a lot more diffuse. Why wouldn't it be much larger and slower? (Or for that matter, smaller and slower?)
Re: Is There A Giant Life Form Lurking In Our Solar System? Possibly, Say Scientists
#4To be cynical, a lot of things are possible. It's possible that anaerobic bacteria still live in small pockets beneath the surface of Mars. It's possible, if unlikely, that extremophiles survive on the sweltering surface of Venus, or floating in its sulphurous clouds.
Of course, the fact that these things are possible is still incredibly cool. While this article lacks much technical substance, this is the kind of thinking that gave us Cosmos and Pale Blue Dot. I hope enough people retain this author's sense of scientific curiosity and excitement for discovery. While cold logic, expected-value calculations, and cynicism are important in a research setting, outside of the lab it's important for people to be able to get excited about little (or big!) things like this.
We can have scientific progress and childish glee coexist. Thank you for posting this.
Re: Is There A Giant Life Form Lurking In Our Solar System? Possibly, Say Scientists
#5The entire article is based on this sentence
"Thus, life on Titan could involve huge (by Earth standards) and very slowly metabolizing cells, in which case biomass densities would be higher than calculated above."
which the author interprets as
"a life form in our solar system that's not a puny, dumb little thing, but a huge dumb thing. Like dog-sized. Or maybe Volkswagen-sized."
I'm sorry.. but a "huge by (earth standards) cell" doesn't mean dog sized. It means a few times an earth sized cell. Otherwise, why compare it to a cell at all?
Re: Is There A Giant Life Form Lurking In Our Solar System? Possibly, Say Scientists
#6The entire article is based on this sentence "Thus, life on Titan could involve huge (by Earth standards) and very slowly metabolizing cells, in which case biomass densities would be higher than calculated above." which the author interprets as "a life form in our solar system that's not a puny, dumb little thing, but a huge dumb thing. Like dog-sized. Or maybe Volkswagen-sized." I'm sorry.. but a "huge by (earth sta…
Yeah with "giant" and "lurking" I was hoping for hints of a planet-sized creature existing in dark matter or some interdimensional plane or extreme wavelength or something. Title is a bit link-baity.
Re: Is There A Giant Life Form Lurking In Our Solar System? Possibly, Say Scientists
#7The entire article is based on this sentence "Thus, life on Titan could involve huge (by Earth standards) and very slowly metabolizing cells, in which case biomass densities would be higher than calculated above." which the author interprets as "a life form in our solar system that's not a puny, dumb little thing, but a huge dumb thing. Like dog-sized. Or maybe Volkswagen-sized." I'm sorry.. but a "huge by (earth sta…
Because it is a single cell. Also, apparently a single cell on earth can get up to 2 inches in diameter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valonia_ventricosa
Re: Is There A Giant Life Form Lurking In Our Solar System? Possibly, Say Scientists
#8The entire article is based on this sentence "Thus, life on Titan could involve huge (by Earth standards) and very slowly metabolizing cells, in which case biomass densities would be higher than calculated above." which the author interprets as "a life form in our solar system that's not a puny, dumb little thing, but a huge dumb thing. Like dog-sized. Or maybe Volkswagen-sized." I'm sorry.. but a "huge by (earth sta…
Yeah with "giant" and "lurking" I was hoping for hints of a planet-sized creature existing in dark matter or some interdimensional plane or extreme wavelength or something. Title is a bit link-baity.
it hadn't even crossed my mind that it would be something that big... but now that you say that, I wish that it had been some gigantic solar-system sized being... now I am totally let down- damn you Robert Krulwhich... damn you.
Re: Is There A Giant Life Form Lurking In Our Solar System? Possibly, Say Scientists
#9The entire article is based on this sentence "Thus, life on Titan could involve huge (by Earth standards) and very slowly metabolizing cells, in which case biomass densities would be higher than calculated above." which the author interprets as "a life form in our solar system that's not a puny, dumb little thing, but a huge dumb thing. Like dog-sized. Or maybe Volkswagen-sized." I'm sorry.. but a "huge by (earth sta…
> but a "huge by (earth standards) cell" doesn't mean dog sized.
Well, the smallest dog breeds have a mass on the same order as the largest cells on earth, so, yeah, "dog sized" is a pretty good standard for a "huge (by earth standards)" cell.
Re: Is There A Giant Life Form Lurking In Our Solar System? Possibly, Say Scientists
#10I feel like I've been trapped in the corner at a cocktail party by someone who insists on showing me bad drawings on a cocktail napkin. This guy's writing style is so annoying that I couldn't even make it to the end of the article. Attempting to parse this has left me feeling slightly dumber than 5 minutes ago.