New Space Observations: Early Forms of Inorganic Extraterrestrial Life?

An international research team announced a breakthrough in self-replicating plasma crystals which could be an early form of inorganic life. New studies of dust that form lifelike structures suggest that extraterrestrial life may not be carbon-based at all. Researchers at the Russian Academy of Science, the Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany, and the University of Sydney observed particles of inorganic dust form helical structures and go through other "lifelike" changes.

If you think that's the plot of a movie with a special effects budget and an extremely expendable cast of extras, congratulations, you just thought of something far more likely than what they claim.

The experiments took place under simulated plasma conditions, representative of space and also the primordial Earth. These inorganic structures  the team suggests may have even led to the organic molecules of life that we're familiar with, and made from. From the Institute of Physics press release:

So, the big question: could helical clusters formed from interstellar dust be somehow alive? "These complex, self-organized plasma structures exhibit all the necessary properties to qualify them as candidates for inorganic living matter," says (V.N.) Tsytovich, "they are autonomous, they reproduce and they evolve".

While there's no convincing argument restricting life to "gooey squidgy stuff", we're afraid this result has much more to do with advertising than actual science.  The core of their argument appears to be that certain helical structures which form in a plasma resemble the helices of DNA - anyone familiar with magnetic fields, or indeed the very idea of "one thing looking like another thing", will realize that a helical shape does not a lifeform make.  It's an excellent attempt to garner attention for a moderately interesting (if extremely specific) set of calculations, but that's all.

The other half of the inorganic life argument is that the helices "self-replicate" - specifically, they'll "replicate" if another suitable site for the formation of a helix is right next to an existing helix.  You might notice that that isn't self-replication.  It's just making another helix, so the whole things like claiming clouds are water-based lifeforms because once one appears you often get a bunch more.

The worst weakness is that most of their pretty pictures (and make no mistake, this is a "Pretty Picture Paper") are only computer simulations.  Simulation is an essential tool in modern research, but you can't move ahead based only on what the model tells you.  If you're claiming that certain plasma columns can move around and replicate, you'd best actually see some of them before claiming that one of the ten million results you can get out of an adjustable model is particularly good-looking and therefore science.

It's great to see scientists increasing their understanding of PR - but not at the expense of accurate reporting.

Posted by Luke McKinney

http://www.iop.org/EJ/article/1367-2630/9/8/263/njp7_8_263.html

Comments

[Why life is great even without simulated plasma conditions (click here)]

Einstein once defined insanity as, "Expecting to solve any problem from the same level of thinking that you were at when you created it." In other words, if you're expecting tomorrow to get any better without changing yourself today, you're an idiot.

[bubbab0b0b]

I know what you mean i have been thinking about Extraterrestrial life out there. Why are we the only planet that should have life

[Mace]

saying that it is not life because it only forms under a set amount of circumstances is like saying humans are not living because it requires a specific set of events to occur before we replicate as well (two humans being in proximity and then mating) then to continue replication requires more set circumstances (food and water location relative to the organism)

[Thinker]

This article is crap. Instead of presenting the facts and letting the reader draw their own conclusions, the author gives us his own - rather unscientific and limited - opinion of this study, and tries his best to make the original authors look like fools, with no scientific facts of his own to back up his opinion - thus making himself look like an ass in the process. This kind of reporting is unfit for a scientific news site, and makes DailyGalaxy look bad. Quit using college kids to write your stories.

[subcorpus]

whats the use of telling us all this ... if the author has already drawn his conclusions ... ???
there can be life on other planets ... why not accept that ...???

[Helioex]

It's quite foolish to think that all life from in universe is going to be Carbon Based just because that's all we have seen in our planet. Until you open your mind, and think out side of the box, you might never see whats out there, cause you will see it every day with your naked eyes, and may not realize that's what you been looking for the whole time.

[Deep Thoughts]

Geez... the origins of these crystals is common knowledge.

What the scientists actually saw were actually 30 million year old intergalactic farts. Over time they form into plasma stink crystals. These crystals are harvested by trans-gender galactic party animals and smoked in a glass pipe before they go out to disco.

[Gorp]

Way to write an article that makes you look like an egotistical tool. Is it just me or are the articles on this site getting less informative and more opinionated?

[bitirim]

thank you

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[peace]

It is selfish to think that humans are the only life in the galaxy, or should I say, arrogant.