LIFE BEYOND II: The Museum of Alien Life (4K)

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Supported by
Protocol Labs

Supported by
Protocol Labs
Follow your curiosity.

Supported By
Protocol Labs
Follow your curiosity.
Lead humanity forward.

Protocol Labs
Follow your curiosity.
Lead humanity forward.

Follow your curiosity.
Lead humanity forward.

"In all the universe,

"In all the universe,
there stands only one known tree of life."

"Does it stand alone?

"Does it stand alone?
Or is it part of a vast cosmic wilderness?"

"Imagine a museum
containing every type of life in the universe."

"What strange things would such a museum hold?"

"What is possible under the laws of nature?"

LIFE

LIFE BEYOND

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER II
The Museum Of Alien Life

To have any hope-

of finding alien life,

we have to know what to look for.

But where do we begin?

How do we narrow down...

a seemingly infinite set-

of possibilities...

There's one thing we know for sure...

nature will have to play-

by her own rules.

No matter how strange

alien life might be,

is going to be limited-

by the same physical...

and chemical laws that we are....

6

6 C

6 CO

6 CO²

6 CO² +

6 CO² + 6

6 CO² + 6 H

6 CO² + 6 H²

6 CO² + 6 H²O

6 CO² + 6 H²O +

6 CO² + 6 H²O + L

6 CO² + 6 H²O + Li

6 CO² + 6 H²O + Lig

6 CO² + 6 H²O + Ligh

6 CO² + 6 H²O + Light

6 CO² + 6 H²O + Light →

6 CO² + 6 H²O + Light → C

6 CO² + 6 H²O + Light → C⁶

6 CO² + 6 H²O + Light → C⁶H

6 CO² + 6 H²O + Light → C⁶H¹

6 CO² + 6 H²O + Light → C⁶H¹²

6 CO² + 6 H²O + Light → C⁶H¹²O

6 CO² + 6 H²O + Light → C⁶H¹²O⁶

6 CO² + 6 H²O + Light → C⁶H¹²O⁶ +

6 CO² + 6 H²O + Light → C⁶H¹²O⁶ + 6

6 CO² + 6 H²O + Light → C⁶H¹²O⁶ + 6 O

6 CO² + 6 H²O + Light → C⁶H¹²O⁶ + 6 O²

On top of this,
6 CO² + 6 H²O + Light → C⁶H¹²O⁶ + 6 O²

On top of this,

each alien environment will further limit-

each alien environment will further limit-
-Hydrogen-

each alien environment will further limit-
-Oxygen-

what kinds of life forms can evolve there.
-Oxygen-

what kinds of life forms can evolve there.
-Nitrogen-

Despite these natural boundaries,

the possibilities are staggering to imagine.

Trillions of planets,

each a unique cauldron of chemicals,

undergoing their own complex evolution.

To guide our thinking,

this museum of alien life-

will be divided into two exhibits...

Life as we know it,

home to beings-

with bio-chemistries like ours.

And life as we don't know it: home to beings
that challenge our concept of life itself.

Before we venture too far
into the unknown,

we have to ask ourselves:

what if alien life is more
like ours than we think?

EXHIBIT I

EXHIBIT I
LIFE AS WE KNOW IT

EXHIBIT I
LIFE AS WE KNOW IT
CARBON & WATER BASED

If there's one feature that unites us with
these other specimes in this museum, it's carbon.

Carbon is ubiquitous, it's one of the
most common elements in the universe,

and is very good at forming
large stable molecules.

Carbon has the rare ability to form four way
bounds with other elements

and to bind to itself in
long, stable chains;

enabling the formation of
huge complex molecules.

This versatility makes carbon the center piece

in the moleculary machinery of life.

And the same carbon compounds that we use
have been found far from Earth,

clinging to meteorites

and floating in far off
clouds of cosmic dust.

The building blocks of life drifting
like snow through the universe.

And if alien life has selected other carbon
compounds for the biochemistry,

they will have plenty to choose from.

Scientists recently identified over a
million possible alternatives to DNA:

all carbon based.

If we ever discover other
carbon based life forms,

we will be fundamentally related.

They will be our cosmic brother.

But would they look anything like us?

If they hail from Earth like planets,

we could share even more in common,

than just our biochemistry.

What would life be like in another
planets, if its evolved?

Would it be like, the world
today here on Earth?

Or would be completely different?

There are those, who argue that

from the argument of convergent evolution,

if conditions on other planets are similar to here, then we will see very similar life forms;

animal and plant-like organisms, that look very familiar.

On Earth, certain features like eyesight, echo-location and flight

have evolved multiple times, independently, in different species.

This process of convergent evolution could extend to alien planets like Earth,

where creatures share similar environmental pressures.

It's no guarantee, but there could be certain universalities of life;

the greatest hits of evolution on repeat across the Universe.

Each feature would be a tune to its local environment.

Dimly lit planets would produce huge eyes to suck in extra light, like nocturnal mammals.

Some people have gone so far as to say
that human type organism, humanoids,

will occur on other planets.

The existence of other human-like
organisms seems unlikely,

given the long convoluted chain
of events that produced us.

But we can't rule it out.

If just one in every 100 trillion
Earth-like planets produced

a human-like form, the could still be
thousands of creatures like us out there.

But in reality, we are more likely to find
something lower on the food chain.

Convergent evolution is also
rampant in plant life

and C4 photosynthesis has arisen
independently over 40 times.

Would alien plants look like ours or
something else entirely?

On Earth, plants appear green because
they absorb the other wavelenghts

in the Sun's light spectrum.

But stars come in many colors

and alien plants would evolve different pigments
to adapt to their sun's unique spectrum.

Plants feeding off hotter stars
could appear redder,

by absorbing their energy rich bluer light.

Around dim Red Dwarfs stars,
vegetation could appear black,

adapted to absorb all visible
wavelengths of light.

Earth itself may have once
appeared purple,

due a pigment called retinal, that was
an early precursor to chlorophyll.

Some think that retinal's molecular simplicity

could make it a more universal pigment.

If so, we may find that purple,
is life's favorite color.

But the color of alien vegetation
is more than just a curiosity,

it's chemical information that could
be seen from light years away.

Earth plants leave a signature bump
in the light reflected off our planet.

Finding a similar signal from another
world could point the way

to alien vegetation.

Perhaps this will be our first glimpse at alien life;

a vibrant hue, cast by a distinct world.

But the biggest influence on life won't be it's host star; it will be it's home planet.

What happens, when you change the day - length of a planet?

What happens when you change the tilt of a planet?

What happens when you change the shape of the orbit?

What happens when you change the gravity of a planet?

Planets with long, elliptical orbits would see drastic seasons.

There could be worlds that appear dead for thousands of years,

then suddenly spring to life.

Most of the rocky planets discovered so far have been massive "Super Earths".

GJ 357 DSuper Earth Distance : ~ 31 Light Years Mass : ~ 7× Earth Temperature : ~ -53°C

How would life evolve on these worlds?

In the seas, gravity may not matter much at all.

A high - gravity planet isn't high - gravity all over.

If you're in the sea, that's where all life starts, there's very nearly no gravity,

cause you're much the density as the stuff around you.

It's when the animals come out on land, that they feel the gravity.

High G - forces [vaguely, gravitational forces] would necessitate

large bones and muscle mass in complex life on land.

They would also demand a more robust circulatory system.

And plant life could be stunted by the energy cost of carrying nutrients under stronger gravity.

Low - gravity planets would more easily lose their atmospheres to space;

and lack a magnetic field to protect from cosmic rays.

But smaller worlds could be home to secret oases;

huge cave systems that provide hide-outs for life.

With steadier temperatures and protection from cosmic rays, life could thrive underground on planets with deadly surfaces.

The smallest possible habitable planets are estimated at 2.5% Earth's mass.

If surface life does evolve on these worlds,

it could be a sight to behold.

Plant life could grow to towering heights,

able to carry nutrients higher, at lesser gravity.

And without the need for bulky skeletons and muscle mass,

animals could have body types, that boggle the mud.