Odds are there's another planet somewhere out there, hopefully relatively close , that enjoys the same temp range, gravity, and radiation levels as Earth does. Since that planet would be governed by the same laws of physics as Earth, wouldn't life start out the same if it took hold? I would think early on there would be single celled organisms that did the photosynthesis. Then they would get more complex and eventually be plankton or algae. Plankton would turn to invertebrate things like worms and crabs, then vertebrate things like fishes and such would evolve and then venture onto the land? I know I skipped a lot of crucial stages and such but I was just trying to make my point. Earth came up with everything from sharks and jellyfish to frogs and roaches to elephants and birds and weed! Alien planets are probably diverse and awesome too. Who knows wtf would be in our place if the dinosaurs didn't get fucked over and mammals never got their chance to stake their claim. Sure life forms on other planets would be have different ways of breathing, mating, and other stuff but the same things would be beneficial. Protecting vital organs, strong bones, eyes etc. Extraterrestrial biology would be so awesome! I wish the government would declassify the UFO and alien stuff. Lame.
There are so many planets in the universe that there is almost bound to be lifeforms on AT LEAST one other. But while there might be some forms of life, it's rare to get itelligent lifeforms and even more rare to have superintelligent beings like us. The most important factor in our evolution was because of a warm period in Earth's history that allowed us to evolve enough to survive the ice age that followed. It's hard to come up with the odds of the same thing happening on another planet.
I think it would be interesting to look at an alien biochemistry, because it makes you step back and re-examine your assumptions about biology. Who knows, maybe you don't need DNA to transmit genetic information? Maybe there's some other way to encode genetic information. I'd love to see how the different circumstances (available materials, chemical composition of the environment, all that stuff, what would the primary source of energy be?) would impact the development of life.
I believe that life can be made out of many different things. DNA certainly isn't the only means of passing on genetic information, either. However, there are a couple reasons why life outside of this world would be pretty similar to life inside this world. Carbon. Carbon is most open to bonds and most stable. The fact that you can take chemistry classes and then take organic chemistry classes should be enough evidence for that. There is enough information about chemistry in relation to carbon to have a completely separate set of classes on the subject. So carbon is a pretty essential building block to life as we know it. I would assume that carbon rich areas of space might also have the same amount of other elements relative to our surroundings. Nitrogen and oxygen would be found with carbon because of the way in which these "heavier" elements are made, inside stars. Another necessity as pointed out earlier by Tokensmoke10 is periods of geological and climatological peace. This is more likely to happen on a small, rocky planet with a nickel/iron core. That core supports a magnetic field which protects us from the harshness of the solar winds and other celestial disturbances. We also have a single satellite to create periodic tides and winds which are very important to life. If life out there is carbon based there are many factors which would help or hinder its progress... A lot of specific things. I bet life is pretty rare in a relative manner, but pretty abundant when speaking about the vast number of stellar systems in our own galaxy. Imagine our entire fucking universe!
I remember watching this thing on the history channel a few weeks ago. Some girl found this weird skull in a Mexican cave like a hundred years ago. This one dude ended up buying it and calls it the "Star Child" skull. You can probably google it and find some stuff on it. Long story short he had it tested for DNA. They could easily detect the Mitochondrial DNA (the kind inherited from your mother) and got the same results in several tests. But they couldn't get any paternal DNA, not even a trace. This skull looked so weird, honestly like ET meets human, and it had this mesh of fibers in the skull that the bone saw had trouble cutting, it just frayed them all up. The history channel had some doctor lady look at the skull and she determined it was the result of binding the infants skull, tho it was beyond any binding she had ever seen. I disagree. I saw another program where these people in Mexico caught this thing in a bear trap that was really fucked up looking. There was a mom that got away and a baby and they looked like small white alien/monkey things. They have this baby's carcass, its a real specimen but has no DNA. I'm not making this shit up. I would bet aliens have been here before.
one thing that trips me out is that since the universe is pretty much infinite with infinite possibilities, doesnt that mean that this could happen allll over again. like under the right conditions couldnt there be another me or you on another planet? all that would need to happen is exactly what happened on earth just on another planet right?
The universe is infanitly large, withg all kind of conditions that vary in terms of radiation, oxygen, and other environmental factors. As a matter of fact recent organisms that live completley without oxygen were discovered, which means life on other planets is more likley than we think, or at least, it's more likley to occur in more hostile conditions than previously thought.
haha. if there is.. life somewhere. we should send a whole ton of marijuana seeds into space. cause they probably wouldnt have any
Jesus, this is what you got out of Mr. Dink's post? His point was scientifically sound, and very illuminating. I mean, if you're just trying to be funny, all well and good. But at least have the decency to point out that though you are punning on the person's name, they have a great point.
Like exactly step by step identical?? Hm, infinite amount of possibilities doesn't necessarily mean the chances of something repeating exactly the same are higher. Or maybe it does?
Theres got to be life somewhere out there, I was watching scientists on the History channel describe just how damn big our universe really is, how many galaxies and how many light years. It was almost unfathomable. I mean there has got to be some crazy shit out there.. Life forms, organisms.. Organisms with unbelievable strength, efficiency of nutrients, etc. Probably some funky looking life forms that have come to survive in an environment NOT similar to Earth. Almost everybody on here has said there must be the same environment, and I believe on some planets this is the case, but imagine the possibilities, and do any of these beings have emotion? It also trips me out to think about how small our brains are compared to how big the universe is. And how the universe is really just a figment of our imaginations.
life on other planets will be as different from us as they are similar to us. Meaning, they will have a hole to eat and a hole to shit, limbs, senses, etc.
Space spores [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho2d1HxtXfk]YouTube - Terence McKenna on Mushrooms[/ame] I don't think this sounds too crazy Especially when you take into account that mushrooms flourish every time there is a mass extinction Like ok, 95% of species die, the earth is covered in clouds, light is blocked plants die...mushrooms thrive, the mycelia spread and spread and when the clouds eventually clear, only organisms that have synergy with fungi thrive...the mushrooms decompose and all the nutrients are returned into the earth its genius, if you're talking about evolution and propogation on an interstellar basis... and I just wanted to mention...as far as temperature and radiation levels...I think its important to point out that since the beginnings of life on earth the sun has gotten something like 40% brighter and yet the temp on earth has been relatively stable... Its almost as if the planet was regulating its own temperature... if interested check this video out too http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world.html