sᴜᴘᴘᴏʀᴛ ʙʏ
Protocol Labs
Follow your curiosity.
Lead humanity forward.
"In all the universe,
there stands only one known tree of life."
"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
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- ᴏxʏɢᴇɴ
what kinds of life forms can evolve there. ᴏxʏɢᴇɴ
what kinds of life forms can evolve there. ɴɪᴛʀᴏɢᴇɴ
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 us...
than we think?
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
it's 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 has the rare ability to form four way bounds with other elements
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 mud.