Earth-Like Planet Discovered!

[Kyronea]

That's a neat discovery...it makes life look just that much more viable in such harsh conditions...the ability of life to thrive is almost frightening. It certainly makes it more likely there is bacterial life on the planet, at least.

[but2002]

If bacterial life can survive in such strong conditions, is it not possible for life to evolve into more complex beings?

[Kyronea]

If bacterial life can survive in such strong conditions, is it not possible for life to evolve into more complex beings?

Maybe. The key is the complexity of the life...while bacteria might be able to survive such harsh radiation, it might not be possible for mutil-cellular organisms to survive...they would simply be ripped apart.

To be honest, our only information comes from what we've seen on our own planet...we can only judge from that information. By that information, I'd say no...but then before this report I'd have said the same thing about bacterial life.

[Burning Zeppelin]

Bacteria have the advantage of near-instant evolution and adaptation.

[Kyronea]

Bacteria have the advantage of near-instant evolution and adaptation.

Not near-instant...more like over the course of several minutes to an hour, but more or less correct. The more complex the life form, the less quickly it is able to evolve and adapt, ect ect. That's why our sentience is so amazing, because it enables us to bypass our own complexity and adapt to any situation as needed through thought.

[grey_the_angel]

Bacteria have the advantage of near-instant evolution and adaptation.

They also make people fart by farting themselves!

[Mystic Frog King]

I mean it in the use of Life forms that are exposed to HIGH levels of radiation, if thats possible here on earth, why not elsewhere?

I know. And I meant JENOVA.

[Korro]

Ahh, I remember hearing that in school. It's circling a star in a later stage than ours. It's much bigger too but it may hold primitive life... Too bad its lightyears away.

[Lu Su]

We should call it Midgard, not from FFVII, but from Viking mythology.

1: migard was earth, but i see where your coming from
2: the star is bigger than our own meaning that it gives out more radiation possible leathal so live like us is more than unlikely
3: the planet is bigger thus greater gravity would make it hard for large organisms to develop

thus leading me to belive that any life present will be in the upper mantle

[Kyronea]

1: migard was earth, but i see where your coming from

True, but I would prefer to reserve the name Midgard for some other type of planet...one closer to our own.

2: the star is bigger than our own meaning that it gives out more radiation possible leathal so live like us is more than unlikely

No, the star is not larger than our own. It is a red dwarf, and red dwarfs are quite small. Now, it does output more radiation onto this planet, but for completely different reasons: the planet is far closer to its own star than we are to our sun.

3: the planet is bigger thus greater gravity would make it hard for large organisms to develop

Incorrect; we need only to look at deep-sea life in our own oceans to see why. Gravity is just one form of force, as is pressure, and as such if life can exist in the sizes they do at such deep depths where the pressure would far exceed the surface gravity of this planet, we can safely say a large organism can evolve on the planet's surface. Now, we would not be able to live on the surface of the planet for very long as the force of gravity would essentially crush our organs from the inside, but that's irrelevant.

What is not irrelevant is the radiation. While we have seen proof of bacteria surviving such raditation we might have once considered lethal, we have no evidence of multi-cellular life existing in similiarly radiated conditions, and until we do we can only conclude such life cannot exist. (This does not mean we do not investigate however; far from it, in fact. We should investigate as soon as we are technologically capable.)

thus leading me to belive that any life present will be in the upper mantle

Now that's an interesting statement...as far as I know we have no life existing in our own mantle, so I'm not seeing how life could develop in another planet's mantle...but, then again...I don't know. I'm not a biologist, so we'd have to ask one.

[Lu Su]

there is life in our upper mantle discovered a few years ago showing that light is not needed for life
and a stars radiation is directly proportional to its size
execpt for those of dawrf clasifaction which has radiation inversely proportional to its size

[Kyronea]

there is life in our upper mantle discovered a few years ago showing that light is not needed for life

A source please. Not that I doubt you so much as I would like to see some evidence for this, as it would be quite exciting.

[Rutt]

That's very interesting indeed. But I highly doubt that there live creatures like us. Or maybe it's a parallel world and what I'm writing write now, the other me on that planet writes it too.
..Mhh, guess not XD.

[Lu Su]

it was in Horizon last june "life on mars" it was about looking for life in more uncoventional places hence talk about bactirum in the earths, no links, its documentary series

[Mystic Frog King]

...what is all this talk of 'mantles'? What is a mantle in this context?