Scientists have till now been looking for life forms that are similar to the forms of life that we find on Earth. Now scientists want to expand the search and try and look for life forms that are absolutely different from those found on Earth.
This way the region in which scientists are continuously looking for life will be broadened. They are now urging researchers to look for life forms which lack DNA or other molecules of life as we know it.
Life is present is many forms and the existence of life in a form that completely contradicts that found on Earth cannot be ruled out completely. This research can be used to look for some kind of extraterrestrial life on the red planet.
Till now all the life forms that scientists have looked for are dependent on water and all carry DNA for their genetic information. Till now NASA and everybody associated with the search for extraterrestrial life have studies the life forms on Earth. But life can also occur in circumstances that are completely different from the normal conditions on Earth. So it is largely possible that some life form is present on a planet and we are not able to recognize it.
Scientists believe that we think that water is the main source of survival but there is a possibility that some other planet may harbor life forms that depend on some other liquid like methane or ammonia. Instead of a carbon based body it can be based on some other material like silicon. While searching for ET life forms nothing can be ruled out as we never know what the Universe has in store for us. Till now Universe has always been the biggest source for mysteries and has always been a target of astronomers who want to provide answers to as many mysteries as possible.
Till now there are many things about life on Earth that we completely don’t understand and it is quite possible that we might come across some form of life and are not able to recognize that form. To detect life forms of different or weird types scientists will now have to build new kinds of detectors.
Scientists are pretty confident of finding such “weird” life forms on Titan as the conditions there are promising there. The Huygens probe has found evidence of liquid methane on its surface. So if we are looking to find life that depends on methane rather than water then it’s largely possible that we might get along some weird methane based life on Titan.
Nothing can be much worse for all those associated with ET and ETI than coming across a life form and not able to recognize it.
Via: NYTimes
