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Could there be non carbon based life?
Non-carbon-based biochemistries. On Earth, all known living things have a carbon-based structure and system. He considered that there was only a remote possibility that non-carbon life forms could exist with genetic information systems capable of self-replication and the ability to evolve and adapt.
How do you assess Earth’s conditions to support life?
For a planet/moon/asteroid to be considered habitable, it must orbit in a zone where liquid water is possible. The planet needs to be far enough away from the star that the surface water does not evaporate and close enough to the star that the surface water does not remain perpetually frozen.
What is the temperature range for life?
Life seems limited to a temperature range of minus 15oC to 115oC. In this range, liquid water can still exist under certain conditions. At about 125oC, protein and carbohydrate molecules and genetic material (e.g., DNA and RNA) start to break apart. Also, high temperatures quickly evaporate water.
Can life be silicon based?
So, the answer, at least for now, is no – although silicon can sometimes be used biologically as a sort of structural support (and there are some examples claiming silicon as an essential trace element) for carbon-based life – silicon-based life itself does not exist, as far as we know, because of the chemical and …
Is non organic life possible?
Prof Cronin said: “All life on earth is based on organic biology (i.e. carbon in the form of amino acids, nucleotides, and sugars, etc.) but the inorganic world is considered to be inanimate. The research into creating ‘inorganic life’ is in its earliest stages, but Prof Cronin believes it is entirely feasible.
Is it possible to find life on other planets?
The lifeforms survived. Life could have happened differently on other planets, however, which makes it difficult for scientists to figure out what to search for. The carbon-based life hosted on Earth may not be the same chain of life formed in other places.
Is there only one way to make life on Earth?
“We assume there is really only one way to make life on Earth because we only know one way life formed, but there may have been multiple experiments and multiple protolife forms before one took over through natural selection,” said John Baross, an oceanographer at the University of Washington in Seattle who also spoke at the panel.
What did scientists once believe about alien life?
Scientists once believed that life could only exist if a planet was a certain distance from its star that would allow for liquid water.
Who are the scientists who think all life on Earth is the same?
From left: John Baross (University of Washington at Seattle), Jim Hand (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Barbara Sherwood Lollar (University of Toronto) and Ray Jayawardhana (University of Toronto), who introduced the panel. (Image credit: Elizabeth Howell) So far, all life on Earth has the same ancestry, no matter how extreme the environment.