Comments on: Alternate “life” styles: scientists predict the possibility of a Shadow Biosphere

By: BLOJER

BLOJER — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:30:08 +0000

El estudio de las singularidades es lo importante…

«A fundamental obstacle in searching for life as we do not know it, is that we cannot be sure what to look for. [...] Anomalies are the driving force behind scientific revolutions; they stand out against the backdrop of accepted……

By: GDI

GDI — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:50:55 +0000

I have often wondered why we only see one tree of life on Earth. If in over 4 billion years, there has only been one genesis of life on Earth, this means that a genesis of life is very very rare, perhaps 1 in billions of a chance, or that the Earth was seeded by microbes that already existed and had a genesis from somewhere else in the Galaxy. Because it has been shown that life existed on Earth 3 and half billion years ago, I tend to think Earth was probably seeded by microbes hitching a ride on impact residue from another genesis source. This is a huge mystery and one I am deeply interested in, I hope we can come closer in my lifetime to understanding this further.

By: immanence - weird life, shadow biospheres, dark signs… & quakes

immanence - weird life, shadow biospheres, dark signs… & quakes — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:13:41 +0000

[...] Biology Blog’s post on shadow biospheres intrigued me in part because I’ve been reading Charles Sanders Peirce, for whom semiosis is [...]

By: Shadow biosphere…

Shadow biosphere… — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:22:50 +0000

[...] ALTERNATE “LIFE” STYLES: SCIENTISTS PREDICT THE POSSIBILITY OF A SHADOW BIOSPHERE Tags: biosphere « Abduction… [...]

By: What a long strange trip it’s been: Paul Davies’ New Book and Hadronistry Coined | The Biology Blog

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:25:35 +0000

[...] The Biology Blog Biology Blog and Biological Sciences News and Articles Skip to content « Alternate “life” styles: scientists predict the possibility of a Shadow Biospher… [...]

By: Scientists predict shadow biosphere | Level Beyond

Scientists predict shadow biosphere | Level Beyond — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:51:26 +0000

[...] Biology Blog: Scientists predict the possibility of shadow biosphere Recommended Books: The Mammoth Book of True Hauntings (Mammoth Book of) Ghost Hunters: A Guide to [...]

By: Shadow-Biosphere Life in the Multiverse « DATACHURCH

Shadow-Biosphere Life in the Multiverse « DATACHURCH — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:19:56 +0000

[...] life may already exist in the shadow [...]

By: Alternate “life” styles: scientists predict the possibility of a Shadow Biosphere « Xenophilia (True Strange Stuff)

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:43:59 +0000

[...] via Alternate “life” styles: scientists predict the possibility of a Shadow Biosphere | The Biology …. [...]

By: Larry O'Brien

Larry O'Brien — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:55:47 +0000

You’re right that evolution at least sometimes favors compression. But only in a balance with all the other selection pressures. I suspect that all biospheres would be extremely “leaky” in terms of emitting signals, because the amount of diversity needed to “use up” all the energy in a system would be staggering. Tropical rain forests and coral reefs are wildly diverse and famous for absorbing large amounts of the energy that is in them (the thin soil of the rain forest, the efficiency with which reefs clean suspended organic matter) but are still very easily detectable by other ways (chemically, electromagnetically, etc.). Can you imagine a biosphere that was so efficient at consuming energy that it appeared as white noise? (Fun to imagine, but I’d submit unlikely.)

I think that the problem with shadow-biology (which seems to me intuitively VERY possible) is not that we wouldn’t be able to detect its signature, but that the range of things that might signal a shadow-biosphere is very large.

(On your point about “camouflage vs. efficiency,” it’s interesting to ponder the polar bear, whose hollow fur appears white, both camouflaging and insulating it. Although I doubt that any Arctic prey can see in infrared, the insulating benefit of the fur coincidentally camouflages the bear in IR, hiding that “signal” from scientists in some “All living objects emit large amounts of heat” shadow biosphere.)

By: Venna

Venna — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:12:53 +0000

Thank You