Tough Earth 'bug' may be from Mars

[Aquarius]

Article (http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992844).

[Starfisher]

It didn't have to come from mars. I remember reading a while back that there are plentiful amounts of many bacteria much higher up in the atmosphere than previously thought. Up there, you don't have the same protection from UV that you do down here, so they could have accumulated the radiation needed to mutate up there. Since the bugs have a genome very similiar to other earth bacteria, this seems more likely than them getting blasted off mars and landing on earth.

[Tombo1]

That is the conclusion of Russian scientists who say it would take far longer than life has existed here for the bug to evolve that ability in Earth's clement conditions. seems like that rules out your theory Starfisher, although I still think we should take this with a grain of salt, or two. As much as i'd like to believe it right away I think we need some more research.

[The5thElephant]

I won't find it so amazing if we find a bacteria from a another planet. It's not that amazing. Finding a plant or even a worm would be quite a bit more amazing.

[Higaran]

There are thousands of tiny meteors that hit the earth every day. There is always the chance one came from mars, or if it didn't that there is some bacteria, or virus on it.

[Sajuukar]

What I don't understand is how a living thing on Mars' surface got up out into space, survived the journey here without bloating and popping, landed on Earth without burning up, and started flourishing!

Anyone care to explain pleez?

[Starfisher]

seems like that rules out your theory Starfisher, although I still think we should take this with a grain of salt, or two. As much as i'd like to believe it right away I think we need some more research.

Read my post more carefully. High up in the atmosphere, you get a lot more radiation than on earth. By high, I mean HIGH. Not airliner height. The amount of solar rads would be the same or more than that the surface of mars receives.

[oneredpanther]

...Russian scientists...
need I add more?

:rolleyes:

[Aquarius]

What I don't understand is how a living thing on Mars' surface got up out into space, survived the journey here without bloating and popping, landed on Earth without burning up, and started flourishing!

Anyone care to explain pleez?


A very large asteriod slamming into the Martian surface would throw up lots of heavy rubble, most of this rubble would re-enter the Martian atmosphere, and strike the surface again, creating secondary impact craters. However, it is very possible some large debris could be put into a temporary orbit, or thrown out all together. This chunk of rock would roam the solar system until it enters Earth's gravity, and enters the atmosphere. Now, meteorites survive going through the atmosphere all the time. Many a Martian space rock has been discovered on Earth.

Now, you asked why didn't it die once it went into space itself. Well, life isn't as fragile as most think. There are many one celled little buggers on Earth that actually put themselves into a form of stasis, this can last for millions of years. They would also be able to with stand tremendous amounts of radiation, obviously, and if located deep enough within the meteor, they would be shielded, atleast somewhat, from solar radiation, and the heat produced by it entering Earth's atmosphere.

[skywalker]

In fact, panther, as sarcastic as you are, we actually did adopt their technology a few times, most notably their advances in rocket boosters...

As for getting launched, what happens when an asteroid impacts a planet with an atmosphere is that debris gets sucked out through the vacuum hole created by the rapid entry of the rock and shot into space. That's why people think that dust obscured the earth from the Dino-kill0r impact.

[boolybooly]

yah bacterial cysts are tough and if upper atmosphere strains exist they might be caught and blown by the solar wind, ie the Earth is like a giant seed pod releasing spores into the intersteller medium which will be incorporated into future solar systems. This may explain how the earth got seeded (if it did).

at its fastest the solar wind blows at 800 Km/s

since the galaxy is 100,000 light years across and a light year is 9,460,528,404,846 Km it will take approx 37.5 million years for it to cross the entire galaxy, which in geological terms is peanuts.

37,498,923.47 yrs in fact

[Tombo1]

Excuse me, but if the bacteria is that high in the atmosphere, what is it going to liv eoff? (food)? As you know already, this would take many bacterial generations, and how would the bacteria stay up there that long? and like i said, what would it live off?

[skywalker]

if it does not expend energy, i.e. it is in stasis, it needs none to survive. but other than that, it can gain some basic energy through sunlight.

[Aquarius]

A very small amount of oxygen and sunlight would do it.

[boolybooly]

purple (http://www.bact.wisc.edu/bact102/102pnsb.html) bacteria also can use rhodopsin to photosynthesise and also H2S which will be available in rocky planets with volcanism.

[Starfisher]

Food = sunlight + O2 = energy = life

[Tombo1]

1: it is said it takes many genertations of bacteria to produce such resistance.
2: bacteria in stasis do not reproduce
need i say more?

[boolybooly]

Bacteria live all over, in snow on mountains tops for example, I dont know whether any atmospheric forms exist but it is not inconceivable, anywhere there is water eg high up in the cirrus cloud formations.

In addition there are other natural sources of radiation due to the geological concentration of fissile material, for example the Oklo natural fission reactor.

http://www.ans.org/pi/np/oklo/
http://www.curtin.edu.au/curtin/centre/waisrc/OKLO/index.shtml

etc

http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/Press/Events/Topics/RadWaste/norm.pdf

[Starfisher]

Food = O2 + Sunlight. In the upper atmosphere, bacteria can reproduce just fine. AND they get large doses of radiation. Just saying that its more likely that these bacteria WHICH DO EXIST are the more likely ancestors of a highly radiation resistant bug than Mars, especially in light of the fact that the genome is very similar to that of other earth bugs.