Food sources on Titan

[luckyme]

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Tolbert said the chemical composition of the haze was organic molecules that are digestible to organisms alive today and could have nourished simple living organisms along ago.

"That would have been a food source for any budding life," Tolbert said in an interview. "And it would have been, importantly, a global food source. And so life, instead of being confined to certain very special environments, could have thrived in every puddle."

Scientists previously have concentrated on isolated, extreme environments such as hydrothermal vents bursting with energy and nutrients to understand primordial life.

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Reuters report (http://edition.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/11/07/titan.haze.reut/index.html) on Titan.

If this holds up, it would swing the chance of life in the universe way up because the conditions necessary wouldn't be as rare as has been suspected.

luckyme

[Lestat]

Very interesting. Thanks for the link.

I wonder if our atmosphere were different if lifeforms could've still evolved (or yet adapt if it should change in the future). I know it couldn't be anything too extreme, but I thought I read somewhere where life existed in areas where there was much sulfer (too much for humans or most animals to survive). In other words, I wonder if everything has to be just "perfect", or is life more versatile than we give it credit for?

[luckyme]

[ QUOTE ]
Very interesting. Thanks for the link.

I wonder if our atmosphere were different if lifeforms could've still evolved (or yet adapt if it should change in the future). I know it couldn't be anything too extreme, but I thought I read somewhere where life existed in areas where there was much sulfer (too much for humans or most animals to survive). In other words, I wonder if everything has to be just "perfect", or is life more versatile than we give it credit for?

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As long as replicators show up I think evolution will do it's thing. For all we know, earth was a tough starting place and other sites may be wallowing in pre-life conditions.
Fast paced change or extreme conditions? If bacteria ( which are advanced but fast replicators) can zig and zag like they do, then perhaps simpler forms are quite robust and it's the intermediate forms like elephants and salmon that would be in the most trouble. Humans are fairly unique because we now create our environment so in that sense we're post-evolution pressured.

luckyme

[FortunaMaximus]

Interesting. There's not much UV 'round Titan, eh. Doesn't irradiate it, doesn't jumpstart defensive counteracts for the bacteria either.

Let's hope Solarpeace doesn't get there first.

Accelerate it or leave it to develop on its own?

I don't know, it's much colder, might take 'till the Heat Death. Evidently, exotherms thrive near lava sources and freeflowing magma, especially underwater. I'm not sure that's applicable in extreme cold.

It's our solar system, as far as we know, is contamination really that big an issue or overblown?

I don't think the initial conditions are that difficult to replicate, and given the combinations of possible organic soups, having 2 known sources of probable nests with the necessary conditions for life might indicate that it's not all that uncommon elsewhere.

Hmm. Yeah, more random thoughts.