Could the Solar System be Rife with Life?

Big Picture Science is a radio program produced by the SETI Institute's radio studio in Mountain View, California. SETI stand for earch for extra-terrestrial intelligence, but the Institute also is interested in the original and nature of life in the universe in general.

This week's radio show "Rife with Life" explored whether there could be life in our solar system somewhere other than Earth.

The discussion panel included planetary scientists Cynthia Phillips, Alexander Hayes, Rachel Mastrapa, Robert Lillis, who discuss the environmental conditions on the various bodies in our solar system that might support extraterrestrial life.

Joining them was science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer, who talked about the appearance of aliens from around our solar system in fiction.

The tour of the solar system begins, naturally, on Mars.  It all started with HG Wells' War of the Worlds, in which a dying civilization on Mars invades Earth.  But Sawyer points out that it's not until Stanley Weinbaum's "A Martian Odyssey" that we get science fictional Martians who seem well adapted to the dry desert-like surface conditions on Mars.

But over the years it has become apparent that it's unlikely that there is any life (currently) on Mars, and so it has become less popular as a setting for alien cultures.  Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, for example, assumes that Mars is essentially sterile when humans settle there and begin the terraforming process.

Sawyer predicts that there is going to be a renaissance of Mars-based science fiction in the near future. Not coincidentally, he's currently working on his own novel set on Mars, tentatively titled The Great Martian Fossil Rush.

After leaving Mars, the tour moves on to Jupiter and its moon Europa, Saturn's moons Titan and Enceladus, and even the Sun.   All of them have been used as the home of fictional aliens except Enceladus, so that's something to keep in mind if you are looking for an unusual setting for your next novel.

I recommend listening to the whole Big Picture Science episode "Rife with Life" for an interesting discussion of both the science and science fiction of possible extraterrestrial life in our solar system. Maybe we'll find life out there yet.

All of the stories discussed in the show are listed on the Big Picture Science blog. If you'd like to get a copy, you can find them here:

• War of the Worlds by HG Wells: (free) Project Gutenberg, Kindle eBook, Nook eBook
• A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: (free)Project Gutenberg,Kindle eBook, Nook eBook
• "A Martian Odyssey" by Stanley B. Weinbaum: (free) Project Gutenberg, Kindle eBook, Nook eBook
• Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson: Amazon.com, Kindle eBook, Barnes&Noble, Nook ebook,
• 2010: Odyssey Two by Arthur C. Clarke: Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble
• The Puppet Masters by Robert A Heinlein: Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble
• Sundiver by David Brin: Amazon.com, Kindle eBook, Barnes&Noble, Nook eBook

Photo: Mars, showing the Valles Marineris (NASA)

Feb. 26, 2012 Link Roundup

Some of the science and SF links originally posted on Google+ , Twitter , and now Facebook  this week:

• Oscar voters overwhelmingly white, male
  According to the Los Angeles Times, the Academy that picks the Oscars is overwhelmingly white, male and older than 50. Do the awards reflect the tastes of middle-aged white men? Is that perhaps why "The King's Speech" beat the "The Social Network"?
• Real-life science closes in on Star Trek: TNG with new device to hack into blind people's visual cortex to let them 'see'
  Cool if it it works as described. But I'm not sure whether the fact that this was reported by the Daily Mail makes this less plausible. They even spelled Geordi (as in LaForge) wrong.
• Attacks paid for by big business are 'driving science into a dark era'
  I think "worrying" is putting it mildly.
  "Those of us who grew up in the sixties, when we put men on the Moon, now have to watch as every Republican candidate for this year's presidential election denies the science behind climate change and evolution. That is a staggering state of affairs and it is very worrying," said Professor Naomi Oreskes, of the University of California, San Diego."
• The Extremest Extremophiles: Microbial oasis underneath Earth's driest desert could be great news for life on Mars
  Hope for life on Mars?
  "But what makes this finding particularly striking is how far underground the microbes are, leaving without any oxygen or sunlight. Those sorts of conditions are very much like what microbes would have to deal with on Mars today. The Atacama has long served as an experimental - and sometimes cinematic - stand-in for the red planet, and the researchers discovered these microbes while testing out SOLID, or Signs of Life Detector, which they hope to see used on future Mars missions."
• The Biology Files: So special: Visionary scientist or quack visionary?
  +Emily Willingham asks what sets apart visionary scientists from quacks?
  Most science fictional "fringe" scientists would qualify as quacks. I'm looking at you Walter Bishop.
  "...it's important to watch out for anyone who makes unusual claims to insights that others don't have, to knowledge that only they've been able to access, to a pattern that only they've visualized because of their special powers and ways of seeing. These people are not relying on shining light on their evidence or exposing their ideas to the critical and often clarifying insights of others. They're relying on their alleged power as seers--as someone special--to sell you something."
• Raising the Dead: New Species of Life Resurrected from Ancient Andean Tomb: Scientific American
  Life is extremely tough. (from +Scientific American)
  "Using a special method that he devised to humidify the desiccated cells, repair their damaged membranes, and jump-start their arrested metabolisms, he coaxed a community of yeasts, which had lain dormant in the entombed vessels since A.D. 680, back to life."
• Bacterial Ice-9? : Dean's Corner
  A component of the bacterial cell wall can influence the ordering of other cell wall components in the same way that Vonnegut's Ice-9 could order other water molecules.
• Where data meet diction: Science and sci-fi's dialogue – GeekOut - CNN.com Blogs
  Although I hope the show isn't making this claim: "Wells also accurately predicted nuclear weapons and genetic engineering."
  If they are referring to the "Island of Doctor Moreau", the mad doctor used vivisection to create monsters, not anything that could be considered "genetic engineering".
• £200,000 test-tube burger marks milestone in future meat-eating
  Burgers from lab-grown meat may soon be ready for consumption. But will they be tasty?
  "The slivers of muscle grow between pieces of Velcro and flex and contract as they develop. To make more protein in the cells – and so improve the texture of the tissue – the scientists shock them with an electric current."
• Food: A taste of things to come? : Nature News
  More on hamburger-from-the-lab.
• Squid can fly to save energy : Nature News & Comment
  But can they fly in outer space?
• Under the Microscope #10 (YouTube video)
  Microscopic view of skin looks like an alien world.
• Ants remember their enemy's scent
  Try not to antagonize any ants.
• The creators of Doctor Who were a scandal
  Surprising that DoctorWho got off the ground, let alone endured for nearly a half century.
• Future Zoos to Have Woolly Mammoths and Tiger Robots : Discovery News
  Wouldn't a zoo with tiger robots be similar to the Jungle Boat ride at Disneyland?
• Why Does Marvel Oppose Mutant Rights? | MetaFilter
  Are X-Men mutants more like monsters or humans?
• Disease-Fighting Secrets of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes
• Robot dinosaurs are the future of paleontology
  Could robots provide new insights into extinct life forms?
• Nebula Awards Interview: Aliette de Bodard
  SFWA talks to +Aliette de Bodard about her story Shipbirth, which features an Aztec-style physician dealing with issues of honor and shame.
• 'Bacteria battery' boosted by space microbes found in river Wear
  I'm not sure if bacteria from the stratosphere necessarily count as "space microbes", but simply being able to use bacterial slime to generate electricity is pretty cool.
• Printing Muscle - Technology Review
  A company is printing human skin that can be used for drug discovery. Would that count as animal testing?
• Luigi Anzivino: Science of Magic - Boing Boing
• Entomology and Pop Culture: The Wrath of Khan! : The Bug Chicks
  "We paid tribute to one of the most famous scenes from Star Trek’s The Wrath of Khan. Disclaimer: No earwigs (or Bug Chicks) were injured during the filming of this segment."Those alien earwigs always make me cringe.
• What does science fiction tell us about the future of reproductive rights?
  Of course the "technology of the future" in SF often is simply commentary on the present.
• Research Nimravus | Ratha and the Named Series
  The big cats in [Clare Bell's] Named series novels (Ratha) were based on real prehistoric animals. I think you'll enjoy this background. Look at the next page, about Dinaelurus, and then the third one about why the Named cats are very cheetah-like.
• Will we ever... grow organs?
  There is artificial skin and even an artificial windpipe, but the kidney, liver, and heart are going to be much harder to replace - yet.
• Sirtuin protein linked to longevity in mammals : Nature News & Comment
  "Male mice overproducing the protein sirtuin 6 have an extended lifespan"
  It doesn't seem fair that only the male genetically-engineered mice live longer with this treatment!
• In the genes, but which ones? Studies that linked specific genes to intelligence were largely wrong, experts say
  If you were hoping for intelligence-boosting gene therapy, you may have a long time to wait.

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Virulent bacteria and jumping spiders in space: regional winners of the YouTube Space Lab contest

The regional winners of the YouTube Space Lab contest were announced this week.  High school students were challenged to design an experiment that could be performed by NASA aboard the International Space Station. The two global winners will get to watch their proposed experiments live-streamed by YouTube from space. Pretty sweet.

Two of the regional winners proposed biology experiments: one that might have implications for disease fighting (at least for plants) and another that looks at spider hunting behavior in microgravity.

 Could alien superbugs cure disease on Earth?

This project was submitted by Dorothy Chen & Sara Ma, high school students from Troy, Michigan (USA) in the 14-16 year old division. They propose to send the bacterium Bacillus subtilis into space to see if it becomes more virulent. B. subtilis normally lives in the soil, and some strains have anti-fungal properties that can be used to treat plant diseases in food crops.  Other strains of B. subtilis can act as "probiotics" when ingested by healthy individuals.  In either case, increased virulence would hopefully be a good thing, since that could mean it's a better fungicide or has improved probiotic properties.

Chen and Ma were inspired by experiments performed aboard the space shuttle that showed Salmonella bacteria become more virulent when grown in space (which is definitely a bad thing). It appears that the reason why Salmonella become more infectious is that their environment in microgravity mimic conditions in the intestine altering gene expression. It looks like it's an open question whether B. subtilis - which does not normally infect the gut - will be affected by microgravity the same way.

Watch their proposal video for the details:


Read more technical background information:
Wilson JW et al. "Space flight alters bacterial gene expression and virulence and reveals a role for global regulator Hfq." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Oct 9;104(41):16299-304. Epub 2007 Sep 27.

Can you teach an old spider new tricks?

This project was proposed by Amr Mohamed of Egypt in the 17-18 year old division. He proposes to test whether microgravity affects the behavior of the zebra spider Salticus scenicus. The zebra spider is a type of jumping spider which does not build a web. They instead stalk their prey, pouncing on it to capture tasty insects.  They glue a silk thread to the surface they are jumping from as a "lifeline". That way if they miss, they can climb back up to their perch. It sounds like a creature out of a horror movie!

 So the question is will this "tiger among spiders" be able to adjust it's hunting technique in microgravity and still catch its prey? Amr doesn't think so.

 Watch his proposal video:

 Read more technical background information:

Dill LM. "Predatory behavior of the zebra spider, Salticus scenicus (Araneae: Salticidae)" Canadian Journal of Zoology, 1975, 53:(9) 1284-1289, doi:10.1139/z75-153 (subscription required)

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Which experiment am I rooting for? My head likes Sara and Dorothy's bacterial experiment for it's potential implications for human (and plant) health.  But my heart likes Amr's jumping spiders, because spiders hunting in space sounds pretty cool to watch.

Fortunately I don't have to choose, since the two entries are in different age categories. Both could win! Good luck!

Top image: YouTube Space Lab logo
Middle image: Falsely colored B. subtilis. Source: NASA
Bottom image: Salticus scenicus eating another spider. Source: Dr.Strangelove at de.wikipedia