Widdershins Posted January 10, 2014 Just interested in people's thoughts:"Former Canada Defense Minister publicly stated that we are not alone in the universe, and some guests from outer space actually live here, on planet Earth."https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg6VTzacb9I&feature=youtube_gdata_player&utm_content=buffer888c1&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=Buffer 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
∂an Posted January 10, 2014 why should a former defense minister be an expert on extraterrestrial life? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
El Presidente Hillbillios Posted January 10, 2014 i cant help looking round and thinking we are the aliens 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nut Posted January 10, 2014 I said pretty much exactly that yesterday!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
∂an Posted January 10, 2014 i cant help looking round and thinking we are the aliens maybe that was said in jest, but many people seriously consider this possibility. Perhaps the original seed of life originated from outside the Earth (panspermia), but most animals that have had their genome sequenced show striking similarity. For example chimpanzee's share 96% of their DNA with humans, and even fruit flies share 60% of their DNA with us. We are very different from all other forms of life on Earth, but we are almost certainly share a common ancestor. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shortly Posted January 10, 2014 I'd say 99.9% certainty. We has some tardigrades sitting in a petri plate for the kids to bother & if those little buggers aren't of alien origin i'd be amazed. After all why would any animal evolve to survive ionizing radiation & in a vacuum unless it was going to be exposed to space at least occasionally? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
∂an Posted January 11, 2014 wow I bet your kids were fascinated with those tardigrades, I would be at least! just had a quick look over the wikipedia page and it said that they took some into space for 10 days, and although the majority survived the trip many of them subsequently died after a few days. so although tardigrades are certainly extremephiles, they are no interstellar travellers. the earth has gone through many chaotic periods in the past few billion years, so one could argue they developed these abilities just to survive any condition the Earth could throw at them (e.g. planetary impacts, solar storms, ice ages, volcanic eruptions etc). the study of the possibility of life existing throughout the universe is called astrobiology, and as far I understand one of the most promising candidate for existence outside of Earth are viruses: Recently, viruses have been recognized as the most numerous entities and the primary drivers of evolution on Earth. Historically, viruses have been mostly ignored in the field of astrobiology due to the view that they are not alive in the classical sense and if encountered would not present risk due to their host-specific nature. What we currently know of viruses is that we are most likely to encounter them on other life-bearing planets; that while some are exquisitely host-specific, many viruses can utilize hundreds of different host species; that viruses are known to exist in our planet's most extreme environments; and that while many do not survive long outside their hosts, some can survive for extended periods, especially in the cold. In our quest for extraterrestrial life, we should be looking for viruses; and while any encountered may pose no risk, the possibility of an encounter with a virus capable of accessing multiple cell types exists, and any prospective contact with such an organism should be treated accordingly. http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ast.2012.0959 It seems unlikely to me that life would limit its range to a single planet in the vastness of the universe. Perhaps proto and primative life forms are constantly drifiting throughout the universe or embedded in comets. Planets however seem like the place where life really gets going, however, and can achieve complex forms such as human beings. Our insatiable desire for evermore complex and powerful tools, exemplified by computers and space craft, may just be natures way of devising a strategy for highly evolved life to leap frog from the earth to other more fertile worlds in the universe. So if we are not yet aliens, we soon will be. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shortly Posted January 11, 2014 wow I bet your kids were fascinated with those tardigrades. Not was much as dad was/is. The pull of VR is greater than the pull of critters at present Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
∂an Posted January 11, 2014 ha true, a bit optimistic to expect kids to drop the igadgets in favour of looking at bugs. need to get a microscope hooked up to a television screen! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
