Life exists where there is no planet?

(NLDO) - British and American scientists have pointed out a new type of potential life world in the universe, far from previous imaginations.

In a study recently published in the scientific journal Astrobiology, the authors show that life can create and maintain the conditions necessary for its existence without needing any planet.

The work was carried out by Professor Robin Wordsworth, an Earth and planetary scientist from Harvard University (USA) and Professor Charles Cockell, an astrobiologist from the University of Edinburgh (UK).

Illustration of a habitable zone without a planet - Photo: SCIENCE ALERT

Previous standard definitions of where life could exist typically required a planet with many Earth-like properties.

However, two British and American scientists believe that alien ecosystems can create their own biological barriers to counteract the adverse factors of the space environment and simulate a planet-like condition in an invisible, floating "bubble".

“To understand the constraints on extraterrestrial life, we can first consider why our home planet is an ideal habitat for life,” the authors write.

It has liquid water, protection from radiation, enough energy from the parent star to sustain the biosphere, complex chemical processes in the atmosphere and on the ground...

“To survive beyond Earth, any living organism would have to change or adapt to its environment sufficiently to overcome these challenges,” they argue.

The clues are right here on Earth: Biological materials here on Earth have been able to do just that, with some ecosystems buried underground, in ice, hiding in boiling water... able to develop special conditions to survive on their own.

An oddball consortium of cyanobacteria, seaweed, Saharan silver ants and diatoms has shown the ability to create the pressures, temperatures and other conditions required for liquid water to exist without any other familiar medium.

A model based on these species shows that highly insulating materials can be produced artificially from biological feedstocks or even directly from living organisms.

“This calculation assumes a free-floating habitat, but similar considerations apply to habitats on the surface of an asteroid, moon, or planet,” the authors say.

This free-floating medium also shows resistance to water evaporation as well as the effects of ultraviolet rays.

The final hurdle of getting enough energy from the parent star to sustain life is also solved by Arctic algae, which thrive in extremely low light conditions under the ice.

The study also took into account other factors such as cell size and the factors that limit the size of single-celled organisms and larger, more complex organisms. They concluded that completely autonomous habitats cannot be ruled out.

After all, the evolution of life on Earth itself has repeatedly shown that it can take very different paths than our own and the rest of the species.

Astrobiologists are also increasingly accepting the hypothesis of an unconventional habitat on exoplanets, that is, planets in other star systems.

So there is no reason why a floating habitat should be impossible.

The final question is whether the kind of biological structures we discuss here could have evolved naturally without intelligent intervention?

Earth's creatures have not yet done this, but the authors believe that with increasingly sophisticated observational tools, humanity can find evidence of this potential habitat.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/su-song-dang-ton-tai-o-noi-khong-co-hanh-tinh-1962412161151015.htm