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MIB
B.V. VIP - Contributor
Joined: Oct 02, 2001
Posts: 42279
Location: Innsmouth
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 Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 9:51 pm Post subject: A Shadow Biosphere |
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Could there be aliens here on Earth? While this question tends to bring out tales of UFOs and bug-eyed interstellar voyagers, it is not considered a bizarre urban legend by some astrobiologists. By "alien" they don't mean "coming from beyond Earth," they mean "other" -- other forms of DNA, other amino acids used to build proteins, any other means by which the chemistry of early Earth could have combined to form life we're not familiar with.
If there are forms of life on Earth today with a biochemistry not like our own, how would we even know it?
Carol Cleland is a professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a member of the NASA Astrobiology Institute. In the third of our series of "gedanken" thought experiments, Cleland explores the possibility that Earth could be host to an undiscovered "shadow biosphere" of alternative forms of microbial life.
When scientists speculate about life as we don't know it, they typically have in mind extraterrestrial life. The possibility that the present day Earth might harbor an alternative form of life is rarely considered.
Given that biologists have yet to encounter an alternative form of Earth life, this may seem reasonable. Indeed, if there were alternative forms of life analogous to plants and animals on Earth, we undoubtedly would have stumbled upon them by now.
However, the situation is quite different for microbes, which are too small to be seen with the unaided eye. Could the contemporary Earth be host to "shadow microbes" -- undiscovered alternative forms of microbial life?
More: http://www.theblackvault.com/article16426.html |
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tofu_kronos
B.V. Info Seeker
Joined: Jan 11, 2005
Posts: 3813
Location: the netherlands, d00d where´s mi bong
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| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 5:09 am Post subject: |
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| There's a chance we have silicon based lifeforms KM's below the earth surface. |
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jdchaser
B.V. Lurker
Joined: Jul 22, 2006
Posts: 220
Location: Right in front of you
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| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 7:27 am Post subject: |
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| Well there are reported bases on Earth. The U.S. has at least 35 reported ones. How they know this *shruggs shoulders* I guess we'll never know. |
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