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Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 9:50 pm
by Cody
It’s alright, there’s less dark matter than they thought, because there are a
lot more stars than they thought.
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 1:42 pm
by Darkbee
I hate to be a pessimist but it'll probably end up being something like scientists now agree that
meteorite ALH84001 does contain remnants of bacteria after all.
I guess that'd still be pretty profound as it would mean life once existed on Mars, but not really little green men type life we might be hoping for.
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 4:10 pm
by Smivs
Although the news has been locked down,
strong rumours suggest that NASA have discovered Bacteria with very alien DNA, based on Arsenic rather than the usual Phosphorus. It was found on Earth, but opens up a whole new range of possibilities for extraterrestrial life.
Truly fascinating, but sadly still no green bug-eyed monsters.
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 5:56 pm
by Killer Wolf
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 10:28 pm
by Zieman
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 12:28 am
by Kaks
Meh, IIRC those news were first published about 2 years ago.
Still, Nasa's press conference should do a good job of rekindling interest in unusual life forms, wich can't be bad!
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 8:14 am
by ClymAngus
snork wrote:Given that the vast majority of the matter needed for galaxies to be "as they are" (eg gravitationally) is not visible (dark matter) and the founding moments of the universe involved a battle of annihilation between matter and antimatter. Might there possibly be a relationship between the two?
As in a product from that annihilation event that has left a hither too undetectable (yet gravitationally significant) particle/residue?
I realise that given the ratio of anti-matter to matter at the beginning of the universe and comparing it to the necessary dark matter needed to mirror "what we see" are fairly diverse but you know; laymen + ideas = dumb questions.
But what does that have to do with exo-
biology ?
Very little, but I thought the comedic value might give them a bit of a laugh on an otherwise slow day.
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 9:23 am
by Disembodied
xkcd's take:
"According to a new paper published in the journal
Science, reporters are unable to thrive in an arsenic-rich environment."
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 12:52 pm
by Darkbee
*raucous applause* (for xkcd)
*mild ripple* (for NASA)
Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 12:55 pm
by Commander McLane
Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 3:28 pm
by Sarin
Unfortunately, it IS life as we know it, just...
*in Borg voice*
We have adapted.