I was thinking of a funny reply having to do with "lake stink", but you got me thinking instead of sensory apparatus in general. The senses of sight, smell, hearing- how and why we are sensitive to certain wavelengths and not others. I read that certain moths can sense at wavelengths that are too long to be considered optical, but too short to be considered radio. Industry is only now beginning to exploit these wavelengths for manufacturing and imaging. Also how a woman in England has a fourth channel color receptor cone in her eyes and sees colors the rest of us can't imagine. The reason is due to evolutionary processes of course, but it gives one pause and ties-in with the exobiology idea in that, while ET species may share a common chemistry, they may have totally different sensory organs, or similar organs that operate at different wavelengths/frequencies. The inhabitants of Tau Ceti may think our concept of the 'color wheel' is quaint and humorous. They may sit in front of a pair of stereo speakers as we play Mozart for them, and express to us "when is it going to start?" They may look at a photo of Guy's ex-wife and be totally overwhelmed by sheer beauty. --- Michael Carnes <michaelcarnes@earthlink.net> wrote:
What about sulphur?
Such life-forms would self-destruct, due to the smell.
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