Strange Discovery on Titan Leads to Speculation of Alien Life

[Cusefan]

New findings have roused a great deal of hoopla over the possibility of life on Saturn's moon Titan, which some news reports have further hyped up as hints of extraterrestrials.

However, scientists also caution that aliens might have nothing to do with these findings.

All this excitement is rooted in analyses of chemical data returned by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. One study suggested that hydrogen was flowing down through Titan's atmosphere and disappearing at the surface. Astrobiologist Chris McKay at NASA Ames Research Center speculated this could be a tantalizing hint that hydrogen is getting consumed by life.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100607/sc_space/strangediscoveryontitanleadstospeculationofalienlife

[Watson]

Re: Strange Discovery on Titan Leads to Speculation of Alien Life

Don't buy it for a second.

Strobel said it is not likely that hydrogen is being stored in a cave or underground space on Titan. An unknown mineral could be acting as a catalyst on Titan's surface to help convert hydrogen molecules and acetylene back to methane.

[Cusefan]

Re: Strange Discovery on Titan Leads to Speculation of Alien Life

Don't buy it for a second.

Ya never know, its still early

[allBthere]

Re: Strange Discovery on Titan Leads to Speculation of Alien Life

They've speculated this for a while since it's one of the only places fathomable that we have any hope of analyzing where life COULD be.

btw...of course there's life elsewhere, but that doesn't mean it's exciting aliens that are smarter than us. Single-cell organisms could exist, but that will hardly make us feel like we aren't alone in the universe.

[youvalss]

Re: Strange Discovery on Titan Leads to Speculation of Alien Life

The way I see it, life is too short for speculations about what's going on million miles away. I'm still trying to figure out how to master the post game on 2K10...

[stlstudios189]

Re: Strange Discovery on Titan Leads to Speculation of Alien Life

whatever if there is some sort of frog creatures elsewhere

[Jukeman]

Re: Strange Discovery on Titan Leads to Speculation of Alien Life

Aliens exist..

[Cebby]

Re: Strange Discovery on Titan Leads to Speculation of Alien Life

btw...of course there's life elsewhere, but that doesn't mean it's exciting aliens that are smarter than us. Single-cell organisms could exist, but that will hardly make us feel like we aren't alone in the universe.

Exactly

There is little doubt for anyone who knows how many stars/planets/moons there are that there is life outside of Earth.

What there is is doubt that the life outside of Earth is anything worthwhile.

The chances that single cell organisms off of Earth will be encountered in our lifetimes (say next 50 years) are probably pretty high.

The chances that intelligent lifeforms capable of communication will be encountered within our lifetimes are significantly lower.

[BlueNGold]

Re: Strange Discovery on Titan Leads to Speculation of Alien Life

The way I see it, life is too short for speculations about what's going on million miles away. I'm still trying to figure out how to master the post game on 2K10...

Damn, me too. Those up and unders are hard to get!

[SPTO]

Re: Strange Discovery on Titan Leads to Speculation of Alien Life

Well if there's going to be life in the Solar System it's most likely going to be one of the moons of Saturn or Jupiter so if this is so it doesn't surprise me.

[DrJones]

Re: Strange Discovery on Titan Leads to Speculation of Alien Life

The chances that single cell organisms off of Earth will be encountered in our lifetimes (say next 50 years) are probably pretty high.

Guess I'm a skeptic. Going from "extraterrestrial life exists somewhere in the countless billions of solar systems within the universe" to "extraterrestrial life exists somewhere in our solar system, and humanity is going to find proof of it within 50 years" seems like a stretch.

The chances that intelligent lifeforms capable of communication will be encountered within our lifetimes are significantly lower.

I'd say the Cubs winning each of the next 50 World Series is a better bet than humanity encountering intelligent alien lifeforms within the next 1000 years.

[DrJones]

Re: Strange Discovery on Titan Leads to Speculation of Alien Life

Well if there's going to be life in the Solar System it's most likely going to be one of the moons of Saturn or Jupiter so if this is so it doesn't surprise me.

The discovery of extraterrestrial life wouldn't surprise you? What would?

[Other Guy]

Re: Strange Discovery on Titan Leads to Speculation of Alien Life

The discovery of extraterrestrial life wouldn't surprise you? What would?

With the size of the known universe being what it is, it wouldn't surprise me either. Plug even the most modest numbers into the Drake equation, and the likelihood of extraterrestrial life is still pretty high.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation

http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/SETI/drake_equation.html

[Cebby]

Re: Strange Discovery on Titan Leads to Speculation of Alien Life

Guess I'm a skeptic. Going from "extraterrestrial life exists somewhere in the countless billions of solar systems within the universe" to "extraterrestrial life exists somewhere in our solar system, and humanity is going to find proof of it within 50 years" seems like a stretch.

50 years is a very long time.

[DrJones]

Re: Strange Discovery on Titan Leads to Speculation of Alien Life

With the size of the known universe being what it is, it wouldn't surprise me either. Plug even the most modest numbers into the Drake equation, and the likelihood of extraterrestrial life is still pretty high.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation

http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious..._equation.html

I agree, the likelihood of extraterrestrial life is high. The likelihood of humanity encountering extraterrestrial life within the next 50 years is pretty low, though, don't'cha think?