1 00:00:01,600 --> 00:00:02,834 Supported by 2 00:00:02,834 --> 00:00:04,350 Supported by Protocol Labs 3 00:00:04,350 --> 00:00:05,419 Supported by Protocol Labs Follow your curiosity. 4 00:00:05,419 --> 00:00:09,187 Supported By Protocol Labs Follow your curiosity. Lead humanity forward. 5 00:00:09,187 --> 00:00:09,437 Protocol Labs Follow your curiosity. Lead humanity forward. 6 00:00:09,437 --> 00:00:09,687 Follow your curiosity. Lead humanity forward. 7 00:00:16,820 --> 00:00:19,129 "In all the universe, 8 00:00:19,129 --> 00:00:24,540 "In all the universe, there stands only one known tree of life." 9 00:00:31,421 --> 00:00:34,443 "Does it stand alone? 10 00:00:34,443 --> 00:00:40,311 "Does it stand alone? Or is it part of a vast cosmic wilderness?" 11 00:00:46,038 --> 00:00:52,618 "Imagine a museum containing every type of life in the universe." 12 00:00:58,482 --> 00:01:01,387 "What strange things would such a museum hold?" 13 00:01:16,257 --> 00:01:18,680 "What is possible under the laws of nature?" 14 00:01:40,127 --> 00:01:46,628 LIFE BEYOND 15 00:01:49,078 --> 00:01:50,713 CHAPTER II 16 00:01:50,713 --> 00:01:55,551 CHAPTER II THE MUSEUM OF ALIEN LIFE 17 00:02:02,805 --> 00:02:05,206 To have any hope of finding alien life, 18 00:02:05,687 --> 00:02:07,133 we have to know what to look for. 19 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:13,339 But where do we begin? 20 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:19,256 How do we narrow down a seemingly infinite set of possibilities? 21 00:02:27,550 --> 00:02:29,118 There's one thing we know for sure: 22 00:02:30,763 --> 00:02:33,357 nature will have to play by her own rules. 23 00:02:36,931 --> 00:02:39,676 No matter how strange alien life might be, 24 00:02:40,476 --> 00:02:44,573 is going to be limited by the same physical and chemical laws that we are. 25 00:02:47,497 --> 00:02:50,977 6 CO2 + 12 H2O → C6H12O6 + 6 O2 26 00:02:51,753 --> 00:02:57,873 On top of this, each alien environment will further limit what kinds of life forms can evolve there. 27 00:03:07,052 --> 00:03:08,839 Despite these natural boundaries, 28 00:03:09,243 --> 00:03:11,834 the possibilities are staggering to imagine. 29 00:03:14,505 --> 00:03:17,946 Trillions of planets, each a unique cauldron of chemicals, 30 00:03:17,994 --> 00:03:20,463 undergoing their own complex evolution. 31 00:03:28,300 --> 00:03:33,548 To guide our thinking, this museum of alien life will be divided into two exhibits: 32 00:03:35,768 --> 00:03:40,185 Life as we know it: home to beings with bio-chemistries like ours. 33 00:03:41,964 --> 00:03:47,921 And life as we don't know it: home to beings that challenge our concept of life itself. 34 00:03:54,132 --> 00:03:56,629 Before we venture too far into the unknown, 35 00:03:57,103 --> 00:03:58,587 we have to ask ourselves: 36 00:04:00,136 --> 00:04:03,005 what if alien life is more like ours than we think? 37 00:04:10,820 --> 00:04:12,729 EXHIBIT I 38 00:04:12,729 --> 00:04:15,017 EXHIBIT I LIFE AS WE KNOW IT 39 00:04:15,017 --> 00:04:15,435 EXHIBIT I LIFE AS WE KNOW IT CARBON & WATER BASED 40 00:04:15,435 --> 00:04:20,798 If there's one feature that unites us with these other specimes in this museum, it's carbon. 41 00:04:25,007 --> 00:04:29,380 Carbon is ubiquitous, it's one of the most common elements in the universe, 42 00:04:29,745 --> 00:04:32,751 and is very good at forming large stable molecules. 43 00:04:37,293 --> 00:04:41,502 Carbon has the rare ability to form four way bounds with other elements 44 00:04:41,807 --> 00:04:44,708 and to bind to itself in long, stable chains; 45 00:04:46,424 --> 00:04:49,624 enabling the formation of huge complex molecules. 46 00:04:56,197 --> 00:04:59,093 This versatility makes carbon the center piece 47 00:04:59,093 --> 00:05:01,130 in the moleculary machinery of life. 48 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:07,742 And the same carbon compounds that we use have been found far from Earth, 49 00:05:08,736 --> 00:05:10,087 clinging to meteorites 50 00:05:12,359 --> 00:05:15,623 and floating in far off clouds of cosmic dust. 51 00:05:18,670 --> 00:05:23,518 The building blocks of life drifting like snow through the universe. 52 00:05:30,162 --> 00:05:34,920 And if alien life has selected other carbon compounds for the biochemistry, 53 00:05:35,783 --> 00:05:37,413 they will have plenty to choose from. 54 00:05:42,088 --> 00:05:47,570 Scientists recently identified over a million possible alternatives to DNA: 55 00:05:48,588 --> 00:05:49,862 all carbon based. 56 00:05:57,948 --> 00:06:00,795 If we ever discover other carbon based life forms, 57 00:06:01,650 --> 00:06:03,973 we will be fundamentally related. 58 00:06:07,928 --> 00:06:09,840 They will be our cosmic brother. 59 00:06:13,296 --> 00:06:15,137 But would they look anything like us? 60 00:06:19,975 --> 00:06:21,742 If they hail from Earth like planets, 61 00:06:22,857 --> 00:06:24,471 we could share even more in common, 62 00:06:25,065 --> 00:06:26,417 than just our biochemistry. 63 00:06:29,826 --> 00:06:33,104 What would life be like in another planets, if its evolved? 64 00:06:33,566 --> 00:06:36,246 Would it be like, the world today here on Earth? 65 00:06:37,477 --> 00:06:38,736 Or would be completely different? 66 00:06:40,504 --> 00:06:42,121 There are those, who argue that 67 00:06:42,456 --> 00:06:44,470 from the argument of convergent evolution, 68 00:06:44,803 --> 00:06:50,206 if conditions on other planets are similar to here, then we will see very similar life forms; 69 00:06:54,726 --> 00:06:58,236 animal and plant-like organisms, that look very familiar. 70 00:07:12,238 --> 00:07:16,618 On Earth, certain features like eyesight, echo-location and flight 71 00:07:16,628 --> 00:07:20,812 have evolved multiple times, independently, in different species. 72 00:07:23,648 --> 00:07:28,978 This process of convergent evolution could extend to alien planets like Earth, 73 00:07:29,222 --> 00:07:32,242 where creatures share similar environmental pressures. 74 00:07:35,632 --> 00:07:40,372 It's no guarantee, but there could be certain universalities of life; 75 00:07:44,337 --> 00:07:48,337 the greatest hits of evolution on repeat across the Universe. 76 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:02,040 Each feature would be a tune to its local environment. 77 00:08:02,798 --> 00:08:06,798 Dimly lit planets would produce huge eyes to suck in extra light, like nocturnal mammals.