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Is there “weird life” on Earth?
While biodiversity is generally in the
news because it is decreasing, if Paul Davies’ quest to find “weird
life” on Earth is successful, biodiversity could get a major boost.
Davies, a cosmologist at Arizona State University, reckons that one way to
check whether life could begin on other Earth-like planets is to determine if
life started on Earth itself more than once.
“How do we know life didn’t form
here several times over?” he asked. “There’s been very little thought
as to what weird life on Earth might be like.” And because scientists
don’t know anything about the lifeforms in this potential “shadow
biosphere”, it’s hard to know where to look or how to detect them.
It’s possible that microbes have
developed with an alternative biochemistry, perhaps boron-based or using
arsenic in place of phosphorus. But techniques for studying microbes tend to be
very specific, so a researcher will generally find only what he or she is
looking for. That means lifeforms from a”second genesis” could be
undiscovered, either co-existing alongside conventional organisms or in new
habitats.
“Weird life could be right under
our noses or even in our noses,” said Davies. “The hard part is
knowing where to look.” He reckons it could be worth paying close
attention to microbes that are hard to characterize, deep ocean vents, lakes
heavily contaminated with arsenic in California, and the desert varnish found
in Arizona - a coating that baffled Charles Darwin and whose organic nature is
still a mystery.
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