Imagining and Planning Interstellar Exploration
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Read 15 hours ago and current, but nothing has been published for 18 months.
In reply to <a href="https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/02/14/what-would-surprise-you/comment-page-1/#comment-257686">Alex Tolley</a>. I think the RNA World was very much alive, but I think we should try to think back to before there were cells, or viruses, or species, or organisms. In my mind, at the beginning I'm picturing an exposed hydroxylapatite surface with calcium and phosphate ions in a…
In reply to <a href="https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/02/14/what-would-surprise-you/comment-page-1/#comment-257681">Mike Serfas</a>. Those viruses may well have evolved before LUCA tells us that LUCA was already an advanced cell and that its various predecessors also had the same replication systems that it, and we, have. Viruses are on that borderline of life:not-life. They cannot grow as…
My two cosmic-level surprises would be... 1. That we are alone in the Universe, which naturally includes the Milky Way galaxy. Intelligent life as we currently recognize it might be problematic, but even the Rare Earthers have said they expect microorganisms to be plentiful throughout the Cosmos. 2. That humanity is somehow the most important species and the focal point of salvation when it comes…
What would surprise me is if 'we' find no evidence of any other life in our own solar system other than on earth, in my lifetime. My expectation and belief is there must be (or was in the past) at least other microbial life in our home system. It would be difficult to prove there isn't and never has been any other life (especially microbial) in our solar system, but not finding any evidence of it…
In reply to <a href="https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/02/14/what-would-surprise-you/comment-page-1/#comment-257673">Alex Tolley</a>. Viruses are <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7062200/" rel="nofollow ugc">truly ancient</a>, and can be organized into large taxonomic groupings. There is an argument that several types of viruses had already evolved <a…
In reply to <a href="https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/02/14/what-would-surprise-you/comment-page-1/#comment-257673">Alex Tolley</a>. Alex, can you help me understand a topic I'm not very familiar with? Can viruses cause mutations in living organisms and potentially accelerate their evolution? I've noticed that researchers keep discovering many new viruses in the oceans, and that RNA viruses…
In reply to <a href="https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/02/14/what-would-surprise-you/comment-page-1/#comment-257660">Alex Tolley</a>. I see what you mean! There's a very steep S curve, with very long tails at the "not enough water" and "too much water" ends, and only a very narrow band centered around "juuuuust right" where we get reasonable/interesting amounts of coastline. And this is…
In reply to <a href="https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/02/14/what-would-surprise-you/comment-page-1/#comment-257661">Mike Serfas</a>. Regarding RNA life: Perhaps the closest we have is RNA viruses and non-coding transcribed RNA. None are close to independent. The viruses need cells to replicate, although I wonder if there might be forms that do not also require a protein coat. Noncoding RNA is…
In reply to <a href="https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/02/14/what-would-surprise-you/comment-page-1/#comment-257656">jonW</a>. JonW, Reading your review of exoplanet water which included some lament, if it is of any help: It might be worth not ruling out the amount of water that might exist under surfaces that look or are determined to be quite dry. Some of the mysteries of geology here on…
In reply to <a href="https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/02/14/what-would-surprise-you/comment-page-1/#comment-257607">Alex Tolley</a>. So far, we haven't seen reports of any pure RNA based life form. I doubt they have really all been driven out of existence by cellular life - more likely we don't know what to look for. If someone drills deep into the channels of some mineral where cells cannot…