
Earth’s aliens - Hooke
http://aeon.co/magazine/science/does-earth-have-a-shadow-biosphere/
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fernly
> If a shadow biosphere were ever found...

...it would automatically become part of the biosphere. Note that an entire
_kingdom_ of life, the Archaea, was only identified in 1977[1]. That was a
"shadow biosphere" if you like: an entire separate version of life,
unidentified as such until we could sequence RNA. But at least some species of
Archaea were known long before, just inadequately classified.

N.B. "Desert Varnish" is not at all the mystery the article suggests[2] and
the idea that it represents some kind of biology seems extremely improbable:
"Microscopic and microchemical observations, however, show that a major part
of varnish is clay, which could only arrive by wind.[5] Clay, then, acts as a
substrate to catch additional substances that chemically react together when
the rock reaches high temperatures in the desert sun. Wetting by dew is also
important in the process.[3]"

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaea)
[2][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaea)

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nickpsecurity
Interesting and fun article to read. I'm with Disqus commenter, Michael
Hanlon, in finding it strange that the two don't co-exist to some degree. We
should've found evidence of it already given all the tools we use on stuff we
analyze. I doubt it exists for now. As I told him, the biological mechanisms
we see in use might be as fundamental as the reasons that most objects in the
universe are stars burning hydrogen. Might just be a constraint in how things
are formed given universe's rules. Or not and we discover a shadow biosphere
if we're lucky. :)

Far as a different code, I remember reading an article somewhere on an
inventor that created a bulk genetic engineering process. It iterates whole
sets of modified organisms with tons of different mods until the desired
effect (eg production of a chemical) is detected. Then it tries to isolate the
modification that achieved that and test its reliability for future, precision
work. In response to safety concerns, the article reported that they were
thinking about creating an artificial DNA-alternative for their process to
keep it from producing out of control creations. I had doubts on their ability
to do that or its ability to work lol.

Anyone remember that article or know where that tech went? Closest thing to
shadow biosphere concept I've seen in my news feed albeit artificial.

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bglazer
I was just discussing a similar idea with a friend this weekend. Perhaps
abiogenesis could _still_ be occurring on earth. My friend contended that
existing life would consume the raw ingredients before they could self
assemble. It's a very reasonable objection but I think it's an assumption
worth checking.

I'd never heard of desert varnish, that's totally fascinating.

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nickpsecurity
An interesting concept I found while looking up the Desert Varnish, which
already has better explanations.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_dark_matter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_dark_matter)

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everyone
The first paragraph really turned me off. Author is throwing wacky statements
out hard and fast. Eg. apocryphal Newton apple dropping reference + saying
scientists are looking for evidence of life "scittering" on Mars

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xx101010
Woot. Yay. Mind bending. In the extreme.

So, on our way out, maybe we can toast this possibility. A beer with cancer or
old age, on the possibility there might be alien microbes on earth.

Sarcasm, yes. Lack of imagination -- I clicked on this thinking I would find
relevant expressions of daunting imagination. But, instead, unfortunately...
when I enter this into my equation of (You are going to die + X = ?),
unfortunately this remains zero'd out as entirely irrelevant.

It is almost as if the whole "you are going to die" factor in my equation is
the equivalent to zero. And everything else is zeroed out. Except for those
dare, rare - often very mad, surely, or genius - sons of bitches that do not
actually ___like_ __being zero 'd out and actually expect not to be.

Well. Fuck them. Do not even try.

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agumonkey
Didn't read it yet, but I love the title.

TBC

