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Author Topic: NASA finds evidence of life on Titan  (Read 4600 times)

APODman

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NASA finds evidence of life on Titan
« on: June 06, 2010, 04:40:42 AM »
"PASADENA, Calif. - Two new papers based on data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft scrutinize the complex chemical activity on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. While non-biological chemistry offers one possible explanation, some scientists believe these chemical signatures bolster the argument for a primitive, exotic form of life or precursor to life on Titan's surface. According to one theory put forth by astrobiologists, the signatures fulfill two important conditions necessary for a hypothesized "methane-based life."

One key finding comes from a paper online now in the journal Icarus that shows hydrogen molecules flowing down through Titan's atmosphere and disappearing at the surface. Another paper online now in the Journal of Geophysical Research maps hydrocarbons on the Titan surface and finds a lack of acetylene.

This lack of acetylene is important because that chemical would likely be the best energy source for a methane-based life on Titan, said Chris McKay, an astrobiologist at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., who proposed a set of conditions necessary for this kind of methane-based life on Titan in 2005. One interpretation of the acetylene data is that the hydrocarbon is being consumed as food. But McKay said the flow of hydrogen is even more critical because all of their proposed mechanisms involved the consumption of hydrogen.

"We suggested hydrogen consumption because it's the obvious gas for life to consume on Titan, similar to the way we consume oxygen on Earth," McKay said. "If these signs do turn out to be a sign of life, it would be doubly exciting because it would represent a second form of life independent from water-based life on Earth."

More in: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-190

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Laura

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Re: NASA finds evidence of life on Titan
« Reply #1 on: June 06, 2010, 05:56:11 AM »
Very interesting stuff, but it's jumping to conclusions to proclaim it "evidence of life" :)

atomic7732

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Re: NASA finds evidence of life on Titan
« Reply #2 on: June 06, 2010, 10:09:17 AM »
"Scientific conservatism suggests that a biological explanation should be the last choice after all non-biological explanations are addressed," Allen said. "We have a lot of work to do to rule out possible non-biological explanations. It is more likely that a chemical process, without biology, can explain these results - for example, reactions involving mineral catalysts."

Laura

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Re: NASA finds evidence of life on Titan
« Reply #3 on: June 06, 2010, 10:24:22 AM »
Indeed :)