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

Sᴜᴘᴘᴏʀᴛᴇᴅ ʙʏ

Sᴜᴘᴘᴏʀᴛᴇᴅ ʙʏ
Protocol Labs

Sᴜᴘᴘᴏʀᴛᴇᴅ ʙʏ
Protocol Labs
Follow your curiosity.

Sᴜᴘᴘᴏʀᴛᴇᴅ ʙʏ
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-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ →
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅O
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅OH
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅OH +
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅OH +2
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅OH +2C
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅OH +2CO
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅OH +2CO₂ +
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅OH +2CO₂ + E
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅OH +2CO₂ + En
each alien environment will further limit-

ʜʏᴅʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅OH +2CO₂ + Ene
each alien environment will further limit-

ᴏxʏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅OH +2CO₂ + Ener
each alien environment will further limit-

ᴏxʏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅OH +2CO₂ + Energ
each alien environment will further limit-

ᴏxʏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅OH +2CO₂ + Energy
each alien environment will further limit-

ᴏxʏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅OH +2CO₂ + Energy
each alien environment will further limit-

ᴏxʏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅OH +2CO₂ + Energy
what kinds of life forms can evolve there.

ɴɪʀᴏɢᴇɴ | C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅OH +2CO₂ + Energy
what kinds of life forms can evolve there.

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,

EXHIBIT I
Life As We Know It
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 us...

than we think?

EXHIBIT I

EXHIBIT I
Life As We Know It

EXHIBIT I
Life As We Know It
ᶜᵃʳᵇᵒⁿ ᵃⁿᵈ ʷᵃᵗᵉʳ ᵇᵃˢᵉᵈ

EXHIBIT I
Life As We Know It
ᶜᵃʳᵇᵒⁿ ᵃⁿᵈ ʷᵃᵗᵉʳ ᵇᵃˢᵉᵈ
If there's one feature-

EXHIBIT I
Life As We Know It
ᶜᵃʳᵇᵒⁿ ᵃⁿᵈ ʷᵃᵗᵉʳ ᵇᵃˢᵉᵈ
that unites us...

EXHIBIT I
Life As We Know It
ᶜᵃʳᵇᵒⁿ ᵃⁿᵈ ʷᵃᵗᵉʳ ᵇᵃˢᵉᵈ
with these other specimes in this museum,

EXHIBIT I
Life As We Know It
ᶜᵃʳᵇᵒⁿ ᵃⁿᵈ ʷᵃᵗᵉʳ ᵇᵃˢᵉᵈ

EXHIBIT I
Life As We Know It
ᶜᵃʳᵇᵒⁿ ᵃⁿᵈ ʷᵃᵗᵉʳ ᵇᵃˢᵉᵈ
it's carbon...

Carbon

Carbon
Carbon is ubiquitous,

Carbon
it's one o' tho most-

Carbon
common elements in the universe,

Carbon
and is very good at forming-

Carbon
large stable molecules.

Carbon

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

Carbon

Carbon
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 mind.

Despite our eager imagination, large complex lifeforms are probably a cosmic rarity.

Here on Earth, it took three
billion years for evolution

to produce complex plant and animal life.

Simple organisms are hardier,
more adaptable

and more widespread.

The largest collection in the
museum of alien life

would likely be the Hall of Microbes.

Yet finding even the tiniest alien microbe
would be a profound discovery.

And bite-sized life could leave
a big footprint.

Like stromatolites on Earth, layers of
microbes could build up into huge

rock mounds over time.

Leaving behind eery structures.

And in big enough numbers
some alien

bacteria could leave a
distinct biosignature,

by exhaling gases that wouldn't
coexist naturally:

like oxygen and methane.

There's ways to make oxygen without life.

There's ways to make methane without life.

But to have them in the atmosphere together?

Is almost impossible unless you've got
biology making those gases at the surface.

And it would have a imprint on
the planet's spectrum of colors.

Next generation space telescopes
could find a signal like this,

on a world not far from home.

The closest Sun-like star with an
Earth-like exoplanet in the

habitable zone is probably only
20 light years away

and can be seen with a naked eye.

But there may be an even easier target to aim for than tiny Earth-like planets.

The Brown Dwarfs: too small to
be stars, to big to be planets.

Most Brown Dwarfs are too hot
to support life as we know it.

But some are just cold enough.

WISE 0855-0714

WISE 0855-0714
Sub-Brown Dwarf

WISE 0855-0714
Sub-Brown Dwarf
Distance: 7 Light Years

WISE 0855-0714
Sub-Brown Dwarf
Distance: 7 Light Years
Mass: 3.10x Jupiter

WISE 0855-0714
Sub-Brown Dwarf
Distance: 7 Light Years
Mass: 3.10x Jupiter
Temperature: -50 - -13ºC

All the prime elements for life have
been detected inside their atmospheres.

And within these clouds, some layers
would provide ideal temperatures

and pressures for habitability.

There could be photosynthetic
plankton in these skies,

kept aloft by churning upwinds.

And with enough force, these upwinds
could even support larger,

more complex life.

Predadors.

There are over 25 billion Brown
Dwarfs in our galaxy alone,

and their sizes will make them
easier targets for study.

The first specimen we discover from the museum of life may not be from a planet at all.

This raises a crucial question:

what if we've been looking in
all the wrong places?

What if nature has other ideas?

EXHIBIT II

EXHIBIT II
LIFE AS WE DON'T KNOW IT

EXHIBIT II
LIFE AS WE DON'T KNOW IT
EXOTIC BIOCHEMISTRIES

Most of the Universe is too cold or too
hot for liquid water and the

biochemistry that supports
life as we know it.

But in case our biases are misleading,

we have to cast a wide net.

To search for life outside
the habitable zone,

in places that seem wildly hostile to us.

Exotic environments will demand
exotic biochemistries.

And while no element can match
carbon's versatility,

one contender is a front runner.

At first glance, silicon seem
similar to carbon.

It forms the same four-way bonds and is
also abundant in the Universe.

But a closer look reveals that these
two elements are false twins.

Silicon bonds are weaker and less prone
to forming large complex molecules.

Despite this, they can withstand
a wider range of temperatures,

opening up intriguing possibilities.

Life based on the silicon atom
instead of carbon,

would be more resistant to
the extreme cold.

Providing a whole new range of weird forms.

But silicon has a problem:

in the presence of oxygen,
it binds into solid rock.

To avoid turning to stone, silicon beings

might be confined to oxygen free environments.

Like Saturn's frigid moon, Titan.

TITAN
Saturnian Moon
Distance: 1,2 Million KM
Mass: .023X Earth
Temperature: -129ºC

Its vast lakes of liquid methane and
ethane could be an ideal medium

for silicon-based life,

or other radical biochemistries.

Without ample sunlight, beings on worlds

like Titan, would likely be chemosynthetic.

Deriving their energy by
breaking down rocks.

Such life forms could have ultra slow

metabolisms and life cycles
measured in millions of years.

And frozen worlds aren't the only possible
harbor for exotic life.

CoRoT-7B

CoRoT-7B
Super Earth

CoRoT-7B
Super Earth
Distance: ~520 Light Years

CoRoT-7B
Super Earth
Distance: ~520 Light Years
Mass: -8x Earth

CoRoT-7B
Super Earth
Distance: ~520 Light Years
Mass: -8x Earth
Temperature: 1026-1526ºC

In high temperatures, typically rigid
silicon oxygen bonds become more

flexible and reactive.

Triggering more dynamic chemistry.

This has led to a truly bizarre proposal:

silicon-based life forms that live
inside molten silicate rock.

In theory, these forms could even exist

deep beneath the Earth inside
magma chambers

as part of a shadow biosphere.

If so, then the aliens are right
under our noses.

Other shadow biospheres have
been proposed:

forms of life living alongside us
that we don't even know are here.

Including tiny RNA-based life, small

enough to go undetected by
existing instruments.

Clouds of dust and empty space might
seem like the last place you'd expect

to find anything living.

But when cosmic dust makes
contact with plasma,

a type of ionized gas,

something strange happens.

In simulated conditions, dust particles,

have been seen spontaneously
self-organizing

into helical structures that resemble DNA.

These plasma crystals even begin
to exhibit life-like behavior:

replicating, evolving into more stable
forms and passing on information.

Could these crystals be considered alive?

To some researchers, they meet all the criteria
to qualify as inorganic life forms.

So far, we have only ever seen them in computer simulations.

But some speculate we could find them
among the ice particles in the rings of Uranus.

Plasma is the most common state
of matter in the Universe.

If complex evolving plasma
crystals really exist

and if they can be considered life,

they could be its most common form.

Or perhaps life is lurking in the
polar opposite environment:

inside the hearts of dead stars.

When massive suns explode, some collapase into

ultra dense cores called neutron stars.

PSR B1509-58
Neutron Star
Distante: 17,000 Light Years
Spin Rate: ~7/second

Hulking masses of atomic nuclei
crammed together like sardines.

Conditions on the surface are mind-boggling:

gravity is a hundred billion times
stronger than Earth's.

But beneath their iron nuclei
crust lies something strange:

a hot dense sea of neutrons
and subatomic particles.

Stripped of their electron shells, these

nuclei would obey entirely
different laws of chemistry,

based not on the electromagnetic force,

but the strong nuclear force,

which binds nuclei together.

In theory, these particles could link-up

to form larger macronuclei,
which could then

combine into even bigger super nuclei.

If so, then this bewildering environment

would mimic the basic conditions for life.

Heavy nucleon molecules floating
in a complex particle ocean.

Some scientists have proposed
the unimaginable:

exotic life forms drifting through
the strange particle sea,

living, evolving and dying on
incomprehensibly fast time scales.

There's probably no chance of ever detecting
such a strange breed of life.

But there may be hope for finding
an even more exotic form.

Life is not something that has to evolve naturally.

It can be designed.

And once intelligence is introduced into the evolutionary process,

a Pandora's Box is opened.

Free from typical biological limitations, synthetic and machine - based life could be the most successful of all.

It could thrive almost anywhere, including the vaccum of space,

opening up vast frontiers unavailable to biological organisms.

And compared to the glacial pace of natural selection, technical evolution

allows exponentially faster growth, adaptability and resilience.

By some estimates, autonomous, self - replicating machines could colonize

an entire galaxy in as little as a million years.

We can't predict how hyper - intelligent life would organise itself,

but in theory, there could be convergent evolution at play.

The electrical properties of Silicon might make it a universal basis for machine intelligence,

a redemption for its biological shortcomings.

With all its potential advantages,

With all its potential advantages, machine life may even be a universal endpoint :

With all its potential advantages, machine life may even be a universal endpoint : the apex of evolutionary process.

As the universe ages, perhaps machine intelligence would come to dominate,

and naturally occurring biological life will be viewed as a quaint starting point.

Perhaps, we ourselves will lead this transition,

and the great human experiment would be merely a first link in a sprawling intergalactic chain of life.

In the end, we are still the only beings we know of in the museum of alien life.

To truly know ourselves, we will have to know :

To truly know ourselves, we will have to know : are we the only ones?

Loren Eisley has said, that one does not meet oneself until

one catches the reflection from an eye other than human.