Life in Space WITHOUT Planets

[@FunBotan]

I assure you that the sentient void critters are just as skeptical that life is possible on planets as we are of them

[@friendlyone2706]

Hoyle's book The Black Cloud postulated just that.

[@KingJAB_]

How could you live on a planet? You would be crushed by the gravity, smashed by an atmosphere if there is one, not have sunlight half of the time, and have tons of forces of nature constantly battering you relentlessly. Such a thing must be impossible.

[@roqua]

@@KingJAB_ Maybe there is a remote chance on tidally locked planets that don't plunge their denizens into darkness half the time, but certainly not on anything else!

[@MelindaGreen]

This is the sort of science I really like: Life as we don't know it.

[@T.Ty7]

Totally agree, it seems like something more people would be interested in but don’t seem to talk about very much aside from the couple “silicon based life might be maybe almost probably not be viable??” papers that get published But maybe im just biased for how I get my information and im missing out on

[@MelindaGreen]

​@@T.Ty7 It's not you. People generally don't know how to think outside of the culture in which they were raised because it's just not important. But there is a niche for a few people to explore beyond all that just in case it suddenly becomes critical. Personally, I'm most curious about non-chemical life, and even xenobiologists aren't willing to spend much time on the subject.

[@stoobydootoo4098]

So, how would anyone know when they had found it? A logical lacuna.

[@stoobydootoo4098]

​@@MelindaGreenWhat "non-chemical life"?

[@MelindaGreen]

@ Life is a process, not necessarily a chemical one. For example it's relatively easy to create simulated software environments such as Conway's game of Life in which life naturally evolves from non-life. It may be artificial life, but it's life none the less. The main purpose is to show that life can involve in suitable non-chemical environments. One non-chemical environment in which I could imagine life evolving would be in the patterns of twisted magnetic fields in stars. My point is that we have no idea where else it might exist.

[@aitorrio6184]

Hi Fraser! I think this might be my first comment on a yt video but i really appreciate your attention to quality and your selection of guests. Keep up the good work!

[@nathanwhitechurch3769]

Man I glad to see an episode on this, have always wondered this!

[@roqua]

Great interview! Would enjoy hearing from Dr. Wordsworth in the future again sometime.

[@DanielVerberne]

Fascinating stuff. Pushing back the constraints on life all the time, at least theoretical life. I'd give so much to learn of just one more example of life - that's my life goal.

[@nicolasolton]

@@DanielVerberne Check out the photino birds of Stephen Baxter/Xeelee Sequence.

[@rikulappi9664]

After one minute: a planet provides 1)protection 2) stability 3) a huge range of environments 4) energy differences

[@Zurround]

I call bullcrap on this. It is science FICTION. Life needs a planet or moon to evolve on.

[@icaleinns6233]

Really interesting interview, thanks for doing that Fraser! The thing that kind of stood out to me was that it would seem that a free floating life form would probably have evolved in a gravity well and evolved to the point where it survived being blasted into space and managed to survive long enough to adapt to the local conditions and then managed to thrive. I didn't see any way that a cellular membrane analog or DNA analog could self assemble without being destroyed by that environment first. Really interesting topic, nonetheless!

[@ollllj]

The early universe was a lot warmer, which means, a very young universe had "habitable zones, in terms of liquid-water-temperatures" more or less everywhere, changing/moving slowly over time as it cools down. it also had that for the melting point of pretty mich any element at one point in time. it seems you need a lot of mass for more resillience and intelligence, mostly for a thick enough atmosphere that acts mostly as a buffer tor temperature and radiation changes, but not too much atmosphere, or getting to space, or even seeing into space, is too difficult/inefficient.

[@anthonyalfredyorke1621]

Great interview Fraser you really get great guests and you ask the questions that need asking and don't bother with trivia. Thanks, have a wonderful weekend and PEACE AND LOVE TO EVERYONE ❤❤.

[@infinitemonkey917]

The Black Cloud by Hoyle is an interesting book about a space organism.

[@pedagogiskaspel]

I was thinking about that one too! "Evil minds..."

[@Zurround]

That was one of the aliens discussed in a book printed in 1979 called Barlow's Guide to Extraterrestrials.

[@annoyed707]

This has me remembering Niven's Integral Trees and Smoke Ring stories.

[@DanielVerberne]

Excellent interview subject, thank you Robin and Fraser!

[@picksalot1]

Instead of deorbiting Satellites, etc. put them in an orbit where their parts, and metals can be recycles and reused, as it was expensive to get all that mass into orbit. It would be cost-effective to reuse materials already in orbit to print objects instead of sending those objects up from Earth, assuming a Recycler and 3D Printer system were available in space. This approach offers several advantages: Reduced launch costs, On-demand manufacturing, Resource efficiency, Potential for large-scale structures, Customization and optimization.

[@roqua]

Fraser has talked about this before (even interviewed some experts) but unfortunately, it ends up being pretty infeasible to chase down each dying satellite for its materials when you calculate the propellant expenditure involved. Perhaps one day when our nanotech has reached sufficient maturity and complexity.

[@BryanM61]

Satellites in almost any orbit lower than about 8000km will decay sooner or later due to friction from air molecules. Satellites in geosynch are placed in gravity wells ("graveyard orbits") at the end of their missions, where they remain permanently unless disturbed by some force or large impact.

[@massimocole9689]

Hence why op's suggestion was to have the satellites move themselves to a recycling parking orbit at end of life, so that you wouldn't have to chase them down.

[@roqua]

@massimocole9689 It is conceivable that this could become a "space environment" requirement in the future and regulatory agencies would have to ensure satellite operators budget enough propelant for end of life parking. Space is pretty big, though, and Low Earth Orbit tracks are pretty far apart in terms of the change in velocity. The small cubesat paradigm lends itself more easily to plans for deorbiting naturally at end of life compared to saving enough prop for parking burns, but it isn't impossible.

[@DanielVerberne]

In regards to robotics as agents of humanity, I wonder if, as the robots themselves improve, perhaps we'll get to a point where a VR-type setup could provide a remote human operator an utterly seamless experience of BEING and DOING whatever that robot is. Ergo, it may get to the point where we think sending humans to many distant or dangerous (or just expensive!) locales is just silly; because we CAN go to those places with just as much experiential fidelity as if we WERE there, via our robotic creations.

[@Puffalupagus360]

Another really good interview. Good job Frasier.

[@SyIe12]

👍⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐EXCELLENT WORK!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR EXPLANATION. I LOOK FORWARD TO NEW VIDEOS! THANK YOU

[@HebaruSan]

Robots might not care about temperature and pressure, but the metal ones will have to worry about cold welding.

[@TagiukGold]

Yes cold welding and cosmic ray welding (such as happened to many of the early gyro bearings)?

[@jthinc23]

Larry Niven's Integral Trees is a great read: giant trees in moist, gaseous cloud.

[@Zurround]

Maybe the best special effects I ever saw in the original Star Trek was when the Enterprise encountered a giant space organism that was thousands of miles wide and the Enterprise got trapped inside of it. No CGI and the limited budget of a TV show filmed in the late 1960s, it was amazing considering those limitations.

[@AnthonyArena-g7l]

Interestingly, that episode was not the only episode where the Enterprise encountered living things that survive outside of planets. In the episode where a weird pulsating light entity forces Klingons and Earthlings to fight, in the end that creature just flew off into the void of space while Klingons and Earthlings laughed at it; and in the episode where Mr. Scott was accused of murder, we learn the real murderer was an evil entity who they beam out into outer space, and Mr. Spock tells us, "the entity will survive only as separate bits of energy, before perishing." So, that's pretty fun. But in reality, I doubt living things survive for long away from water.

[@animistchannel]

Let loose the Threads of Pern!

[@nicolasolton]

Pern, Russia?

[@animistchannel]

@@nicolasolton There was a popular sci-fi series called "Dragonriders of Pern" by Anne McCaffrey, in which a space-borne lifeform called "Thread" would fall onto the planet Pern and consume life wherever it could.

[@michaelpettersson4919]

​@@animistchannelThis is what can happen if you colonise a world without surveying it properly first. In Star Trek Enterprise the colonists on Terra Nova made the same mistake. They had barely landed and dismantled their ship before a radioactive meteorite poisoned the atmosphere. A quick look before landing would have exposed that rock before impact. Then they could have dealt with it or at least landed in an unaffected area.

[@stevengordon3271]

Some moons around the universe will likely have a lot of the life-supporting properties of planets.

[@nickychimes4719]

I saw two blips of light come from afar, into low earth orbit, perform a pinball like chase sequence for couple of minutes, then return back where they came from... ...I got the impression that what I saw wasn't perhaps intelligent or conscious, as it seemed to be feeding, mating, cleaning, eating Those things I saw came from somewhere close, as, though their speed was superior to any craft I've seen on earth, the velocity wasn't enough to propel them outside the solar neighbourhood The agility and mobility was physics bending, with speeds, angles, instant changes and stops and starts; it was as if two shooting stars were chasing each other in the high night sky This happened 2003/2004 Murcia/Almeria, southern Spain, late August, 3/4am, witnessed by two persons

[@nickychimes4719]

It looked like a scene from the sea... ...I bet there is superspace calamari on Enceladus

[@hemojr]

Niven's Smoke Ring set within his Know Universe series is an orbiting habitable zone around a gas giant orbiting a neutron star

[@KingJAB_]

I’m curious about the ratio of free elements to consume in the vacuum to the amount lost by micrometeorite impact injuries

[@joshuaadamstithakayoutubel2490]

Who else watched Sabine’s video briefly mentioning this possibility?

[@swiftycortex]

Yo

[@frasercain]

She's probably reporting on the same paper from Dr. Woodworth.

[@immunitycorrupts3641]

love watching Sabine I love Science!

[@infinitemonkey917]

@@immunitycorrupts3641 Most of her base is anti-science.

[@infinitemonkey917]

@@immunitycorrupts3641 She admits to having a large anti-science base. Prof Dave made 2 videos about it.

[@yaonyaon9460]

I still argue the assumption that life absolutely requires liquid water. As I see it, the cause and effect should be swapped. It's not that life emerged because we have the perfect conditions, but that life took the shape we know simply because it emerged and evolved in these precise conditions. We see this happen all the time and similarly have observed it from studying the past. A simple example: First, there was not enough oxygen thus life was mostly anaerobic. When oxygen reached a certain level, life evolved to utilize it and greatly changed. Try to compare a present-day complex multicellular aerobe with an archaic uni-cellular anaerobe. The difference in biochemistry, structure, internal shenanigans, appearance, and shape is staggering. And this variety sprang from the same starting point in a closed system where most conditions remain similar. From this POV life shouldn't be as restricted as we claim. What we think it needs or how we imagine it to look or behave... It's all prejudice, misconception, and assumptions based on what we see on the small planet we inhabit. Unfortunately, too many assumptions will only restrict our imagination and blind us to what may be right before our eyes. I won't be surprised if we have already discovered extraterrestrial life yet we simply couldn't recognize it.

[@OverwoundGames]

hoping we'll eventually find life that has evolved electro-static thrust flying around in an asteroid belt somewhere

[@1701_FyldeFlyer]

Bit Star Trekkie, eh? I can think of at least 3 episodes that have space bourne alien life forms in them.

[@friendlyone2706]

How many others think tholins might be created by an organic (living) process? Tholin Tholins are a wide variety of organic compounds formed by solar ultraviolet or cosmic ray irradiation of simple carbon-containing compounds such as carbon dioxide, methane or ethane, often in combination with nitrogen or water. Wikipedia In addition to other places, found on Charon's side that faces Pluto, and on Pluto.

[@douglasnorgaard9933]

What a fun topic.

[@Bigandrewm]

Speaking of life in the universe: what about having ageless intelligent life? Is it possible? What would be the biological, economic, and social implications for that life?

[@goiterlanternbase]

15:25 Robin still thinks in the boundaries of the human body😁 How cute🥰 Be bold😉 Take the necessary step, even it may alienate the smooth brainers😉 It is better than look clueless, because nothing works out.

[@darthjarwood7943]

If life has evolved to live at the very edge of our atmosphere than cant we assume that life could take that extra step and evolve to live just off planet in orbit and then even further maybe going dormate for millions of years while traveling between stars...possibly using the magnetic lines from stars to travel or evolve biological light sails (wings) and maneuver anywhere

[@annapaliarush7742]

Is the cover image for this video contains a huge “microbe” from Star Trek episode? I am watching this episode right now. 😅

[@hive_indicator318]

Who did those habitat simulation animations around the 9 minute mark? (I'm so hoping it's not ai crap)

[@DanielVerberne]

Other scientists I'd love to be hosted here include Chris McKay, Natalie Batalha, Sara Seager, Michael E Brown, David Grinspoon, Michel Mayor/Didier Queloz, I'm sure there's others I've missed. Or .... Adam Frank talking almost anything!

[@frasercain]

Sarah Seager: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5_dc2pror1gp9k Mike Brown: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3bKqZSuZs6Sosk David Grinspoon: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKKldoeIgJtgjtU Adam Frank: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jnLYgoWabreid5Y More Adam Frank: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kF7LeWZjr5ppmck

[@DanielVerberne]

@@frasercain Thank you Fraser. You put me back in my box.

[@D1N02]

Complex life probably needs a planet but panspermea could be a thing. Life seeding itself throughout the universe.

[@therion108]

Isn't the complexity of planetary environment still needed for life to emerge and evolve? Can we imagine free-floating life that already started that way? Does the sunlight, solar wind and interplanetary dust provide enough influx of material for free-floating living blobs to be sustainable?

[@TomUlcak]

Around 15:30. Organism that can survive space and other extreme conditions. Well, space being the most hostile: Tardigrades? I hope I don't sound too stupid. oh, what the hell. I want to learn!

[@TheCakeIsNotaVlog]

Allow me to by that guy, for just a moment. We don’t know that life formed here, on Earth. We know it _exists_ here, and has some so for a significant length of time. But forming here is still in question. Though, admittedly, extremely probable

[@onewhostudies6856]

Im calling it now. There is bacteria in the atmosphere of Venus, and sulphur bacteria on Mars. Scrrenshot this comment, print it out on paper, and date and time stamp it.

[@Mr.Anders0n_]

And frame it?

[@rodClark717]

Na, both barren. I'm calling it, and Elon can decide.

[@Bluebloods7]

@@rodClark717 he's too busy using "starlink" to put nukes in orbit for the CCP

[@Mr.Anders0n_]

@@rodClark717 and I'll add Europa, Enceladus, and Titian. All barren. Screenshot my comment, print it, date it, and frame it 😁

[@rodClark717]

@Mr.Anders0n_ amen, interesting dead things and everyone wtfing constantly

[@christopherwilkening7843]

Yes asteroid mining will drive technological development towards von neumann probes for commercial cost savings reasons.

[@michaelblacktree]

Lookin' for life in all the wrong places, lookin' for life in too many faces, Searching for life, and lookin' for traces... 😛

[@NilsExp]

Would we even recognize alien life if we detected it? Simple answer: we don't know. 😅

[@stoobydootoo4098]

Analogy - If you looked at a large photograph of a huge crowd, and someone told you your best friend was there, how would you know that was true if you couldn't make out individuals' faces?

[@JCMills55]

I have been saying this for years. I cringe every time I hear someone say 'life' has to have an earthlike planet. I expect that we won't even recognize the first alien life as life when we 'discover' it.

[@jip5889]

We should not be looking in Alderaan places!

[@robertcampbell6349]

LOL!

[@astormofwrenches5555]

Aeldari Craftworld ftw.

[@bruceleenstra6181]

So we need to be searching for space snails ... clams ... and turtles?

[@RavenMyst-t3p]

How would rogue planets not be frozen solid by lack of light/heat?

[@nicolasolton]

@angelcrow6256 they could contain a large amount of radioactive isotopes perhaps?

[@RavenMyst-t3p]

@@nicolasolton ah! interesting!

[@anotheral]

"I wonder where all the robots are?" Dude, you're talking with a guy working on avenues by which panspermia could happen. Maybe we're the robots?

[@ArchibaldEdits]

I believe there is life on Titan.

[@stoobydootoo4098]

Is that where the tooth-fairy lives?

[@JamesCairney]

​@@stoobydootoo4098 they come from the same place as hellboy, thats not Titan.

[@halcon2134]

Is a 3D printer that can print itself alive? First we have to know if life exists or not.

[@althyk]

Moons, more likely than planets.

[@gazzacroy]

If bacteria can live on my feet. It can live anywhere 😊

[@joukoforsstrom4697]

Green Slime!

[@swervbe]

The sooner I can transfer my consciousness to a robot and leave Earth the better!

[@damienwade7848]

Earth?

[@vgamedude9811]

Astrophage moment.

[@rainaldkoch9093]

Love the critical questions. Add one: How could life evolve into this form? Creation?

[@ocoro174]

I like planets 😐

[@glyngreen538]

Of course life can thrive in space - has he not met the tyranids?

[@hughD11]

I can't listen to an uptalker.

[@reginaldowen4346]

Glad it's not just me? Sadly, this really annoying affectation seems to be spreading like a disease? I just turned off the sound and read the subtitles?