Who says we need water for life?When we look for living things beyond Earth, we look for places wher
Who says we need water for life?When we look for living things beyond Earth, we look for places where liquid water can exist. Our cells are surrounded by a flexible envelope of specialized lipids and filled with mostly-water and so are the cells of the living things that we have encountered so far. What if that isn’t the only way to build a cell?Above are two spheres. The top one is a fresh computer model from a team at Cornell University who have made a hypothetical cell membrane out of nitrogen compounds that they’re calling an azotosome. What makes it different is that it doesn’t freeze even at extreme temperatures, say, -292°C. It behaves very much like our own cell membranes, and has shown itself to be quite resilient and flexible in simulations.And where might you find the right nitrogen compounds and conditions like these? Look to the other sphere: Titan, one of Saturn’s largest moons. It’s surprisingly hospitable for somewhere so cold, having oceans of ethane and methane, a thick atmosphere and even weather of sorts. The research group says not to expect little green men though, maybe think closer to bacteria and virus-like particles. It’s life, but not at all as we know it. -- source link
#science#biology#astrobiology#chemistry