24 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Warm-Blooded Plants: Zero-g, Zero-T, and Zero-P
There are three principal obstacles to be overcome in adapting a terrestrial species to life in space. It must learn to live and be happy in zero-g, zero-T, and zero-P, that is to say, zero-gravity, zero-temperature, and zero-pressure. Of these, zero-g is probably the easiest to cope with, although we are still ignorant of the nature of the physiological hazards which it imposes. To deal with zero-T is simple in principle although it may be complicated and awkward in practice. Fur and feather...
1 17 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Life in a Nebula Evolves to Maneuver into It
"Tell me what happened!"
"The tree came apart.
"Why?"
"Maybe the fire set it off, but it was ready. Clave, everythiiing in the Smoke Ring has some way of getting around. Some way to stay near the median... middle, where there's warater and air. Where do you think jet pods come from?" The hanand relaxed a little, and the Grad kept talking. "It's a plant's way of gettmg around. If a plant wanders out of the median, t too far into the gas torus region--"
"The what?"
Alfin asked, "What o... 1 
notes
notesThe integral tree has just broken in half, and the scientist explains this is a survival mechanism because it was moving to far out of the nebula to survive.
18 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
1847 Speculation About Extraterrestrials
In general I would be cautious against … plays of fancy and would not make way for their reception into scientific astronomy, which must have quite a different character. Laplace's cosmogenic hypotheses belong in that class. Indeed, I do not deny that I sometimes amuse myself in a similar manner, only I would never publish the stuff. My thoughts about the inhabitants of celestial bodies, for example, belong in that category. For my part, I am (contrary to the usual opinion) convinced ... th...Folksonomies: xenobiology
Folksonomies: xenobiology
On the sun trees would be larger, but would break apart if made of the same material as those on Earth.
01 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Sagan's Positive View of Advance Alien Civilizations
It is at this point that the ultimate significance of dolphins in the search for
extraterrestrial intelligence emerges. It is not a question of whether we are
emotionally prepared in the long run to confront a message from the stars. It is
whether we can develop a sense that beings with quite different evolutionary
histories, beings who may look far different from us, even "monstrous," may,
nevertheless, be worthy of friendship and reverence, brotherhood and trust. We
have far to go; while th... 1 notes
notesWe need to understand animal minds as practice for understanding alien ones.
01 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Thinking About Aliens Stretches the Imagination
The virtue of thinking about life elsewhere is that it forces us to stretch our
imaginations. Can we think of alternative solutions to biological problems already
solved in one particular way on Earth? For example, the wheel is a comparatively
recent invention on the planet Earth. It seems to have been invented in the ancient
Near East less than ten thousand years ago. In fact, the high civilizations of Meso-
America, the Aztecs and the Mayas, never employed the wheel, except for children's t... 1 notes
notesThe possible life that could evolve in other environments is an imaginative treasure chest.
(TODO: The wheeled organisms described here appear in the Amber Spyglass by Pullman)
15 DEC 2011 by ideonexus
If Life Can Exist in Sea Vents, Then It Can Exist Elsewhe...
The fact that this chain of life existed [at volcanic vents on the seafloor] in the black cold of the deep sea and was utterly independent of sunlight—previously thought to be the font of all Earth's life—has startling ramifications. If life could flourish there, nurtured by a complex chemical process based on geothermal heat, then life could exist under similar conditions on planets far removed from the nurturing light of our parent star, the Sun. 1 notes
notesIncreasing the range of places life can occur in the universe.
13 DEC 2011 by ideonexus
Carbon VS Silicon Life
Though one might imagine "living" organisms such as intelligent computers produced from other elements, such as silicon, it is doubtful that life could have spontaneously evolved in the absence of carbon. The reasons for that are technical but have to do with the unique manner in which carbon bonds with other elements. Carbon dioxide, for example, is gaseous at room temperature, and biologically very useful. Since silicon is the element directly below carbon on the periodic table, it has simi... 1 notes
notesWhile we can imagine living computers, it is hard to imagine silicon life spontaneously forming in the universe.
