Methane sources on Mars

[The Valkyrie]

for us non scientific types, what is the significance of methane being present? I would imagine a lot of gasses are present.

Hope this helps

[Jackalope]

Fartians?

Pull my finger.

[polar bear]

for us non scientific types, what is the significance of methane being present? I would imagine a lot of gasses are present.

Hope this helps

Thanks, it did!

Arent we a bit narrow minded to think that the way we live, die and decay will be the same process on different locations in the universe? It just so happens that we have evolved to breathe oxygen and expel carbon dioxide, and our plant system does this in reverse. Couldn't other forms of life (not necessarily human) breathe and expel different gasses. If we change the gases breathed and expelled, I am certain when we decay a different gas would be present.

Am I really off base on this? This fascinates me, I wish I would have studied science instead of finance in school.

[Jackalope]

Hope this helps

Thanks, it did!

Arent we a bit narrow minded to think that the way we live, die and decay will be the same process on different locations in the universe? It just so happens that we have evolved to breathe oxygen and expel carbon dioxide, and our plant system does this in reverse. Couldn't other forms of life (not necessarily human) breathe and expel different gasses. If we change the gases breathed and expelled, I am certain when we decay a different gas would be present.

IIRC, it's thought that life could be based on elements other than carbon, which share some similar characteristics (such as silicon). It would seem that such lifeform's metabolic and de-compositional processes would differ from those on Earth.

However, I note that we don't have any examples of non-carbon based life, and Mars formed from the same "stuff" that earth did, so we might expect that life could take a similar path. It's not a solid assumption, but it does give us things to actually go looking for.

[Minimalist]

[The Valkyrie]

Thanks, it did!

Arent we a bit narrow minded to think that the way we live, die and decay will be the same process on different locations in the universe? It just so happens that we have evolved to breathe oxygen and expel carbon dioxide, and our plant system does this in reverse. Couldn't other forms of life (not necessarily human) breathe and expel different gasses. If we change the gases breathed and expelled, I am certain when we decay a different gas would be present.

IIRC, it's thought that life could be based on elements other than carbon, which share some similar characteristics (such as silicon). It would seem that such lifeform's metabolic and de-compositional processes would differ from those on Earth.

However, I note that we don't have any examples of non-carbon based life, and Mars formed from the same "stuff" that earth did, so we might expect that life could take a similar path. It's not a solid assumption, but it does give us things to actually go looking for.

This.

We have to base our science on what we know and have observed.

We can speculate but it's unlikely we'll know about the decomposition process of non carbon based lifeforms until we actually encounter them.

[polar bear]

If we are all just "star dust" does that mean the universe is carbon based? Where, best guess, should we be looking for silicone or other life forms?

I can't imagine christians would want us to find something other than in HIS image, but I just know there has to be other living "things" out there.

[Tonus]

It just so happens that we have evolved to breathe oxygen and expel carbon dioxide, and our plant system does this in reverse. Couldn't other forms of life (not necessarily human) breathe and expel different gasses.

I don't know if it's possible, but it would be crazy awesome IMO.

[The Valkyrie]

If we are all just "star dust" does that mean the universe is carbon based? Where, best guess, should we be looking for silicone or other life forms?

I can't imagine christians would want us to find something other than in HIS image, but I just know there has to be other living "things" out there.

"Star stuff' include elements other than carbon.

Where to look, to be honest, I don't know. I think when we find them we'll be surprised by their abundance.

[Jackalope]

If we are all just "star dust" does that mean the universe is carbon based?

Not necessarily. I was referring to the fact that Earth and Mars are thought to have formed from the same protoplanetary disc under similar forces, so we can expect them to be similar. Earth and Mars are made from approximately the same "star stuff" (ejecta from supernovae).

Is "star stuff" the same everywhere? It's probably similar, but a protoplanetary nebula with differing proportions of elements could produce different results. I am no expert on the subject.

Where, best guess, should we be looking for silicone or other life forms?

Beats me. How would we recognize them from afar? By their metabolic byproducts. What are those? I don't know, but I bet there's theoretical research going on in exoplanetary biochemistry that has some predictions. I'm not privy to them.