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Aliens may be 'hitching rides' to other planets on meteors, new study warns
April 21, 2024
The search for life in the universe has fascinated human beings for countless years, and now new research could change the way scientists go about searching for alien life forms.
Instead of changing where experts are looking for potential alien life, the new research is all to do with changing what they’re looking for.
It’s all to do with the idea of "panspermia" – a fringe theory which suggests that life forms can move from planet to planet by ‘hitching rides’ on meteors [via Live Science].
Now, the new research published to the preprint database arXiv and put forward by astronomers Harrison B. Smith and Lana Sinapayen hasn’t been peer reviewed and it assumes that panspermia is possible. However, the implications could be huge.
If panspermia is possible, then it means that scientists could theoretically narrow their search for alien life, even if they don’t know specifically what they’re looking for.
This could be important, as NASA has identified more than 5,000 exoplanets which could potentially play host to life in the universe and searching them individually is a process that could take years and years.
Moreover, we don’t really know what form could take out there in the universe, and we only know of one planet – Earth – that supports life.
Instead, the pair of astronomers have proposed a new theory on the basis of panspermia, suggesting that life could start on one planet and then spread to others via meteorites.
Fundamentally, this approach could completely change what scientists would look for.
Just as life on Earth has changed the conditions on Earth and in our planet’s atmosphere, including adding more oxygen, life forms would change properties of an exoplanet. Moreover, if life is indeed capable of panspermia, then the researchers argue that it would try to make the same changes on every planet it came across as it travelled.
According to the new study, approaching the search for life in this way could mean that experts would potentially be able to find clusters of planets near to each other with similar characteristics – and this could then in turn be an indicator of potential life.
Meanwhile, it comes as new research suggests that bacteria containing purple pigments could be the key to locating extraterrestrial life.
https://www.indy100.com/science-tech/purple-bacteria-life-exoplanets
Purple bacteria could be key to finding alien life
April 21, 2024
New research suggests that bacteria containing purple pigments could be the key to locating extraterrestrial life.
On Earth, the dominant colour signal for life is green, due to bacteria and plants that use green chlorophyll to transform sunlight into energy. But for other planets, green isn't the colour we should be looking for.
On planets orbiting a smaller, dimmer star, organisms are more likely to thrive on invisible infrared light, according to researchers.
In a study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Lígia Fonseca Coelho, an astrobiologist at Cornell University, and her co-authors grew a sample of infrared-powered bacteria. This bacteria does exist in certain places on Earth, mainly where sunlight doesn't penetrate, such as marshes or deep-sea hydrothermal vents.
Whilst growing a sample, the team measured the wavelengths of light they reflected, and simulated what those light signatures would look like on various planets.
Certain telescopes, most of which are still be constructed, will be able to search for these light spectra, according to the researchers.
"We need to create a database for signs of life to make sure our telescopes don't miss life if it happens not to look exactly like what we encounter around us every day," co-author Lisa Kaltenegger, a Cornell University astronomer and director of the Carl Sagan Institute, said in a statement.
Purple bacteria belong to a phylum called Pseudomonadota, and they thrive in low-oxygen environments. Coelho and her colleagues grew 20 species of purple sulfur-producing bacteria and 20 species of purple non-sulfur-producing bacteria. These were obtained from a variety of environments. Researchers found these bacteria actually contained numerous colourful pigments, including orange and red as well as purple.
After determining which wavelengths of light these bacteria reflected most strongly, the team simulated how those wavelengths would look coming from a variety of potential exoplanets: an Earth-like environment with 70 per cent ocean and 30 per cent land, a 100 per cent ocean world, a 100 per cent frozen world, and a snowball world with half dry land and half snow.
"Our models show that depending on the surface coverage of the biota and the cloud coverage, a wide variety of terrestrial planets could show signs of purple bacteria surface biopigments," the researchers wrote. "While it is unknown whether life — or purple bacteria — can evolve on other worlds, purple might just be the new green in the search for surface life."
https://www.indy100.com/science-tech/purple-bacteria-life-exoplanets
>TV tower in Ukraine's Kharkiv collapses after strike
>(maximum homo)
Kek
Being that Wolverine finally gets his 90's attire, I hope you guys threw Juggsy back in it with his trademark threads too
Tourist plunges 250 feet to her death into active volcano while posing for photo
Updated April 22, 2024, 11:10 a.m. ET
A tourist plunged 250 feet to her death in Indonesia after tripping while taking photos on the edge of an active volcano.
The woman, identified as 31-year-old Chinese citizen Huang Lihong, was with her husband on a guided tour of Ijen — a volcano park in East Java — when she tumbled into the crater Saturday, Hongxing News reported.
The couple had climbed to the top of the active volcano, which is known for its popular “blue fire” phenomenon, to catch the sunrise.
The tour guide later told authorities that Lihong had initially kept a safe distance from the edge of the crater after being repeatedly warned of the dangers while posing for snaps.
But she then started walking backward to inch closer — then accidentally stepped on her long clothing, tripped and fell into the mouth of volcano.
A photo circulating in local media showed Lihong apparently posing with her leg raised and clouds of sulfur gas behind her just before her deadly tumble.
It took rescuers roughly two hours to retrieve her body, according to authorities.
The tourist’s death has since been ruled an accident.
Her body was scheduled to be transported to Bali before being flown back to China, local media reported.
The Ijen volcano — among a cluster in the region — is known for its “blue fire”, which is caused by combustion of sulfuric gases
https://nypost.com/2024/04/22/world-news/tourist-plunges-to-her-death-posing-for-photo-at-volcano/