Quote:
Originally Posted by AK
I can't see why not, although it of course depends on what is available down there and if oxidants are being cycled, etc.
My advisor postulates three different kinds of life on Titan in his most recent book.  |
Which book is this...the one by Peter Ward?
I've read reviews of his stuff, isn't he the "rare earth" guy who thinks Earth is the only planet with advanced life in the universe? Depressing if you ask me. Oh yeah, this guy also wrote GORGON, about the Permian Extinction, another topic that keeps me up at night with its unrelenting, compelling depressiveness.
I like to think about cheerful things, like how organisms might be able to live in planets we think are uninhabitable, like Titan! (oops...I forgot, it's not a "planet".)
http://www.astrobio.net/news/Topic14.html
Astrobiology magazine has lots of great stuff about Titan!
There was an article on that site about Titan, I wish I had the link, called "The Living Worlds Hypothesis" by David Grinspoon. (a great author to check out.) It's an interview with Astrobiology magazine.
He talks about photochemistry in the upper atmosphere where methane is being turned into energy-rich organic molecules such as acetylene. He thinks that organisms could "eat" this. Acetylene is dangerous on Earth because of the oxygen, but he thinks that because it is so cold on Titan, chemical reactions might occur at a more moderate pace, and the energy that causes explosions on Earth might be going into metabolism on Titan.
Not being any kind of scientist I can't evaluate this theory, I can only say "gosh-wow, what a cool idea!"