Aardvark Daily

Please visit the sponsor!

Never underestimate life

As we discover an ever-increasing number of exoplanets, scientists keep telling us that none (so far) have conditions suitable for life as we know it.

Most of the exoplanets discovered to date are either massive gas giants (like Jupiter) and/or fall outside "the Goldilocks zone" where it's neither too hot nor too cold for life to survive.

We've found more than a thousand planets but no sign of life.

From this, it could be assumed that we are still living on "the lucky planet" and that our chances of encountering life elsewhere in the universe remains remote.

But I think you'd be wrong, and a recent discovery right here on earth is a hint as to why that might be.

According to this PopSci article, a unique bacterium has been found living in a decidedly hostile environment right here on earth.

No, they're not talking about those highly adapted life forms that survive in the scorching hot environments of volcanic vents deep in the oceans or in hot water pools.

We're talking about Tersicoccus phoenicis, a form of life that appears capable of withstanding highly toxic chemical cleaners and the intense ultraviolet radiation used to neutralise any unwanted form of life in the cleanrooms where satellites are assembled.

The fact that this microscopic bacterium can survive conditions that would obliterate any other form of life shows just how much we underestimate the ability of life to endure conditions that are supposed to be incapable of sustaining any life at all.

The discovery of this bacterium has man implications in our search for life elsewhere in the universe and even elsewhere in the solar system.

Imagine if this organism hitched a ride to Mars on one of the Mars rovers. Its ability to survive and multiply in such a harsh environment could result in an inadvertent seeding of the red planet. The first life we detect there could actually be nothing more than a hitchhiker from Earth.

Then there are the other bodies we'd previously discounted as being viable environments for life. How can we be sure that there aren't equally or even more adapted bacterium there which are able to survive such (to us) hostile conditions?

For many decades we expected our first encounter with alien life to be "little green men in flying saucers". The reality is that life may be prolific throughout the universe and even our solar system could be host to multiple forms of microbial life which live, multiply and evolve in conditions vastly different to those found on earth.

Never underestimate life.

Please visit the sponsor!

(Sorry, forums are stuffed at present)

PERMALINK to this column

Rank This Aardvark Page

Change Font