It's exciting to think that we might have all kinds of critters living in places (is it Ganymede?) where there may be liquid water (near such a vent) that's otherwise cold and far from the sun (or a sun).
The million-dollar question for me has to do with the origin of the extremophiles. We don't really know if our earthly critters formed in all of these hostile environments or if they formed in one environment and then radiated out to fill other niches, evolving to fit. You could see it going either way. If life can form anyplace that's remotely habitable, then we might have reasonable expectations of finding it on Mars or Europa or Ganymede. But if it has to form in some more pleasant place and then work its way into extreme environments, we'd be less likely to find something in places that never had Darwin's 'warm little pond'.
Speaking of 'warm little ponds' or, puddles in this case; Years ago me and some friends used to go out to a little spot just West of Utah Lake to do some long range target shooting. There was this one particular little area that was void of any notable life. In fact, when you looked around, there was nothing even close. After being in that hot sun for most of the day and drinking lot's of water, a person would naturally have to make room for more, and so on this particular spot, we would collectively leave enough fluid to run a ton of those little "urine' batteries Patrick mentioned in a recent post. ;) Well I drove back out to this spot not long ago to reminisce and have a look around, and was stunned to see what had grown in that little spot where we would stop to pee. I believe the sign said 'Eagle Mountain'! ;) Be careful where you pee. You never know what may grown in it's place... Quoting Michael Carnes <michaelcarnes@earthlink.net>:
But if it has to form in some more pleasant place and then work its way into extreme environments, we'd be less likely to find something in places that never had Darwin's 'warm little pond'.
Maybe it's not an either-or situation. Perhaps it did and can go either way, and the genetic evidence is now long-gone because one path died-out completely on earth. --- Michael Carnes <michaelcarnes@earthlink.net> wrote:
The million-dollar question for me has to do with the origin of the extremophiles. We don't really know if our earthly critters formed in all of these hostile environments or if they formed in one environment and then radiated out to fill other niches, evolving to fit. You could see it going either way.
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participants (3)
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Chuck Hards -
diveboss＠xmission.com -
Michael Carnes