/sci/ - Science & Math

IMO Possible but not likely. To even have a chance you'd need large collections of matter. Without a lot of gravity its probably rare to find matter in such density that it can form together into life.

Oceans were the first places life came about probably because not only was it ideal for dissolving substances but also turbulent enough to mix them around enough so that life could start to form. Space probably lacks all of this.

We are all life-forms inhabiting space and as far as we know space-time is a necessity for any life... the question is silly even for a troll.

Microbial life can survive exposure to space. On a macroscale, things would be a lot more problematic. I suppose you could engineer a biological entity capable of feeding of starlight and somehow not getting fucking by radiation, but I cannot imagine how such an organism would arise out of natural causes.

>>5559487
> beings that live in zero temperature, has no food source, impossible to control movement in zero gravity
It's a straight No.

Aww shitt nigga I heard this niel tyson on joe rogen... shit was like rogue planets in interstellar space.. saved up heat from some process and u will have rogue planets flying empty space with life on it.. aww shit

Possible

>>5559496
lel
>zero temperature
Space isn't 0K
>no food source
What's food?
>impossible to control movement
You don't know that, and it might not have to move under it's own volition.

They would either be microscopic and living on things like meteors and other space debris, possibly metabolizing things like cosmic rays (how; I dont fucking know). Or they would be extremely large entirely self-sufficient "super organisms" that either evolved like that or built their own self-sufficient organic craft. I think the latter is much more likely, although I still don't really get how it work.

Inane and irrelevant shit question. There is no fucking evidence, therefore it cannot be answered. Lrn2science

>>5559503
> whats food
And where is the food exactly retard ? We didn't spot any double whoopers in space while we observe through the milkyway.
> You don't know that, and it might not have to move under it's own volition.
"hurrrr durrr you don't know that." is not an argument. Only religious faggots use "hurrr you dont know there isnt a god" as an argument

>>5559496
tardigrades
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrades

>>5559508

>There is no fucking evidence
There have been experiments with taking microbes into space, and some scientists at least have argued that meteorites have biological fossils. Get off your high horse.

>>5559508
>lel look at me im saging a thred on 4chin

>>5559512
And ? Lets drop 1 million tardigrades and see what they do in 10 years then ? The ones who keep floating in space will die, the ones who happen to fall on planets will die from either harmful conditions, or starvation.

Conclusion : They can't live in space.

>>5559528
No, but maybe something else can. Are you implying that a star is not a sufficient energy source to sustain life?

>>5559487
For efficiency purposes, these beings would probably be silicon based life forms to survive the harsh and varying conditions of space travel.

>>5559511
Dust clouds could be food, point is your view of food was too narrow. There is matter in space.
Think about gas build up and release, boom movement. Quite being so dismissive faggot and use your brain.

>>5559530
In sci-fi a lot of times space dwelling life forms are some sort of space clouds. I wonder if that is even remotely possible, that a space "cloud" would be aware of itself and possibly intelligent.

>>5559523
> Residing to offtopic personal attacks rather than giving counter-arguments about the subject.
You have no place in this board shitposter. Fuck off and take your /b/ culture with you.

>>5559532
> star
> energy source
Oh boy. You are either a really poor troll, or an illiterate imbecile who hasn't even took biology 101

>>5559534
>lel look at me i'm using fancy words like 'counter-arguments'
>lel this people must be stupid so i'll just rage at them and sage thread

How about this: every time you'll sage this thread i'll bump it 3 times. Deal?

>>5559535
Yeah indeed. They can get their superdimensional energy from ghost reptiles who control space crystals and live in alpha centauri, since we're doing legitimate science now with "what if" questions.

>>5559546
How about this: You read a science book and educate yourself? Deal?

>>5559542
And half your brain is obviously missing.
>what is photosynthesis

>>5559547

Perhaps you should leave. People are trying to have fun with hypothetical situations.

>>5559548
report and move along mate

>>5559548
How about this: you suck my cock and I whistle through my teeth while you do it. Deal?

>>5559511
"food" doesn't necessarily need to be food in the traditional sense.

I dont think it's too ridiculous to think there could be organisms capable of using different light sources for food or as a catalyst for a photosynthesis-like reaction (like x-rays). They could also feasibly use ice or other deposits on meteorites as another energy-source.

It's a big leap, but I don't think its unreasonable. For instance, if a planet with life were destroyed (physically), there could be life that survives on one or multiple broken off pieces, and then float around the universe in a lowered-metabolic state until "finding" new suitable host planet. We have organisms on our planet now capable of surviving in lava, temperatures of near 0K, the vacuum of space, extreme atmospheric pressures, extreme radiation, etc, I just don't think it's a huge leap of faith the think that may be possible (or how our planet was possibly first introduced to life)

Earth is a space dwelling life form.

what about a large organism that lived in a really dense nebula that had a biological ram scoop digestive system? they could feed and also be mobile

>>5559549
Photosynthesis only works with sun light.

>>5559550
> science board
> hypothetical situations
wrong board. you're welcome to have this discussion at >>>/x/ where illiterate fantasies are welcome

>>5559547
Leave this board

>>5559554
>sun light
>sun
Yep, pretty sure that's a star. Your point?

>>5559550
This is the science board, not the kindergarten fantasy board. Take your anti-intellectual lowbrow conception of "fun" to >>>/v/ or whatever infantile shit hole you came from.

>>5559552
>implying reporting does anything
>implying the mods aren't anti-intellectual

>>5559562
>>5559561
>imagination not allowed in science
lel

>>5559549
Yeah. Because sunlight is all a plant needs right ? You don't actually need soil or water or humidity or carbondioxide or stuff like that right ?

>>5559554
Actually some plants get energy from moonlight
>inb4 reflected sunlight
the moon makes its own light

>>5559561
Why on earth do you think /sci/ is a science board?

>>5559561
Why don't you cry some more? Your tears are delicious.

>>5559568
Imagination is important as long as you can back it up with logical statements. "hurrr u don't know if it can happen" is not a logical statement

Men please.

Can't we all agree that space is vast and full of potentially amazing things?

Isn't it enough to just ponder the what-ifs and could-bes without fighting about them?

>>5559570
Because it's the fucking title, you illiterate retard. /SCI/ - SCIENCE AND MATH

>>5559569
On Earth, perhaps. Are you saying there's not even a theoretical probability that some form of life would find a way to extract sufficient energy directly from the sun?

>>5559569
you make that yourself, like the earth did

>>5559574
Can't we all agree that science requires facts and evidence and that fantasies for 5 year olds with mental disabilities don't belong here?

>>5559575
That's right. Get mad. Get it all out. You're doing great.

I'd say possible, if you take life-form in its most generous interpretation.

If humans were to create Van Neumann machines capable of travelling between planets or asteroids, mining their matter and using sunlight as an energy source, that would certainly count as "space-dwelling life-form".

Not terribly improbable.

>>5559575
>>5559579
Bump guy here. Bumping to make you as mad as possible. Possibly even rage.

>>5559576
Great. All we need is a plant that will somehow occur in nature with producing carbondioxide, has a glass jar for capturing the humidity and magically spawns water. problem solved.

>>5559575
>implying a title means anything

i have a book called the never ending story.

>>5559557
very true /sci/entist

>>5559561
>>5559562
You're right, we're all idiots for wondering. You showed us. Might as well be on your way. Your holy crusade against pseudoscience is waiting for you!

>>5559561
OP's question is a legitimate science question. Could an organism exist that could survive in space? Maybe you should take your obsessive compulsion to assert authority on an anonymous image board over to /b/. That place could really use a few overzealous janitors.

>>5559587
You read books for 6 year olds? Way to show how you're lacking behind in your mental development. Please stop polluting our board with your cretinism.

>>5559559
sorry I mean bussard ram jet....i think ram scoop is a "star trek" term

>>5559591
yep, were all wondering dude. there should be a scientific branch for researching reptilian overlords controlling civilizatons with interstellar mind control.

>>5559598
Nice equivocation there. Clearly I'm dealing with a superior intellect as I would have never considered that a discussion on an anonymous internet board is the same thing as devoting time and money towards research.

>>5559593
>have
>read

u can not tel wurds apart lel

>>5559593
>attention whore
>mad as hell
>sages legit science thread
Yep, I think we have a schizo on our hands. All the signs are there.

Do you even realize that by saging the thread and making a shitstorm, you actually effectively contributed to its popularity? I'm just saying lol. It's hilarious.

>>5559605
>insults
>insults
>insults

Way to confirm your immaturity. Go back to >>>/fk/

>>5559610
lel u go 2 >>>/troluhard/

>>5559610
>immaturity
Find a mirror. God knows you need one.

>>5559614
Fuck off, underageb&.

>>5559615
>Find a mirror.
I have a mirror. What's your fucking point?

>God knows
Religion trolling? Seriously?

>>5559594
Recent research suggests a bussard engine will produce more drag than thrust.

But maybe a solar sail. Pic related.

>>5559622
>lel wot is sarcastic infantile behavior

well played faggot

>>5559622
Seriously, what the fuck is your problem? Did you just go broke and have no one in the world to hug or something?

I am OP, btw. What do you have against my question? Why is it not science-worthy? Why do you insist on polluting this thread by making everyone rage? There's been about 10 actual replies to it and the rest is trolling made or directed by/to you. Please tell, what is your fucking problem?

If you're angry at yourself just say so, it will make you feel better and the rest of us as well. Why come into a thread and start stirring shit like you're some kind of a deity?

Let me bottomline this for you: you don't own the internet. We will discuss whatever the fuck we want to discuss. Acting like an enraged teenager won't change this. So please either leave this thread be or state your intentions or problems because it is annoying as hell (which is the point, right?).

>>5559636
>Seriously, what the fuck is your problem?
he's what is known around these parts as a troll

his purpose is to make you mad

he has succeeded

>>5559636

>>5559636
He's obviously trolling. Best ignore him.

>>5559487
Possible but improbable.

>>5559559
>>5559594
Imagine a creature that lives deep in nebula. It is 100 times larger than the largest creature that's ever lived on earth. A giant gaping maw that's always fixed open but it has no teeth. No fins, only a single long and wide tail. It silently floats across the span of a nebula collecting hydrogen and other base gasses into it's mouth. As it nears the edge of a nebula it uses it's giant tail to spin it's body around and then with force of an entire sun farts an fusion explosion of hydrogen and helium propelling itself across the nebula again. Along it's body you might find parasites that look like barnacles. Filter feeders catching a ride on the behemoth that collect and digest star dust.

>>5559636
Unlike you I have scientific education. I come to this board to discuss actual science and math. But what do I have to see on the front page? A pseudo-intellectual pop sci teenager who doesn't even know the scientific method is shitting up the board with an infantile retarded kindergarten level fantasy "what if" question. Have you ever read a book? Have you ever gone to school? Please educate yourself.

>>5559655
>steps back from offensive insult troll to reasonable though condescending insult troll

keep going

>>5559655
Nice. I wasn't sure before, but now I'm definitely sure you're a troll. Have fun, I'm done with you.

>decide to hide all the trolling and playingfield-bs ITT
>19/71 posts shown
The hell, don't you people have anything better to do?
For example, post something on-topic?
Will keep hiding stupid shit.

>>5559664
I know, it's a rough night today.

>>5559656
How can star dust be processed for food?

>>5559635
I read a few lines of the jpeg, got curious, googled the book. Found it online and started reading... it's poorly written and full of grammar and spelling errors.

>>5559508
>>5559515
>>5559534
>>5559547
>>5559548
>>5559552
>>5559561
>>5559567
>>5559575
>>5559579
>>5559593
>>5559610
>>5559622
It truly is astonishing how a tool designed to combat dogmatic beliefs somehow manages to spawn equally dogmatic enforcers of what is "right" and "wrong". Now, if you knew a bit about the history of science, for all that dead mens' opinions are worth, you'd know that you can't ask a "scientific" question, but you can come up with a "scientific" answer. That is to say, you should let your imagination and creativity go wild when trying to come up with a hypothesis, then be stringent when testing said hypothesis. There's probably a name or two associated with this (Popper, mayhaps?), but I can't recall at the moment. Creativity, luck and imagination beats stringency any day of the week. Stringency is merely the finishing touch, so to speak, though necessary nonetheless.

Lastly, I do hope you are not deluding yourselves that an anonymous image board could somehow perform "science" (empirical testing of a hypothesis, in the broadest sense) in any meaningful manner. Thus, we are left with opinions and referring to others. From this we can easily see that your point isn't actually "this isn't science", but rather "stop doing things I don't like". I think /v/ would suit you.

>>5559689
some nebula have high concentrations of methane. I would guess some nebula re more likely to support life than others.

>>5559747
>trolled hard XD

>>5559747
>dat edgy pseudo-intellectualism

From your post we can easily infer that you are lacking any higher education. Your mindless drivel can only be explained by you being an uneducated fool who thinks looking at fancy astronomy photographs qualifies him to call himself a scientist. You clearly never attended a university and you don't even understand the most basic concepts of what constitutes scientfific research. Please do all of us a favor and stay on /v/ or whatever underaged cesspool you came from.

Try to taboo the word "you" from all discussions. They will improve in content quality. In fact, it should be impossible to post it.

When I read imageboard threads these days, even the "serious" sections, all I can see is this:

Ape 1: I higher status ape than you!
Ape 2: No, I higher status ape than you!
Ape 1: No, I higher status ape than you!
Ape 2: No, I higher status ape than you!
Ape 1: No, I higher status ape than you!
Ape 2: No, I higher status ape than you!
Ape 1: No, I higher status ape than you!
Ape 2: No, I higher status ape than you!
Ape 1: No, I higher status ape than you!

ad nauseum

possible, but only with extensive genetic engineering, bioships

>>5559793
0/10

>>5559925

>taboo the word

LessWrong detected.

>>5560402
>>5559925
>LessWrong
I don't get the point of that site. Is it like some r3ddit atheism circle jerk where a bunch of hipsters demonstrate how uneducated they are?

>>5559925
there's the emotional territorial circuit for ya.

>>5559487
Considering that there are some species of fungus that have been observed to "eat" radiation, it could be possible that a life form coasts between chunks of matter, storing it for chemical energy to be broken down by processes fueled by trace amounts of radiation.

Possible.

But not having merely appeared "in space".

Basically spaceships, developed to the point where the life that made them can no longer see the distinction between them and it.

>>5559925
there's the emotional territorial circuit for ya.

I don't think true deep/empty space life is feasible, but I think life in low grav and minimal atmospher, like in an environment such as an asteroid belt or a planets ring could exist
.

Its hard to imagine something surviving in interstellar space. It might be possible within the gravity well of a star somewhere where there are some clusters of matter available and a dense light source to absorb energy from.

>Bitches don't know bout my Dyson tree.

>>5560513
Eufloria is better.

>>5559536
We might be considered "clouds" from the viewpoint of very small scaled observations. Imagine how we must look to something that is as large as a water molecule.

Astrobiology says yes. But we have to be open about what we mean when we say 'life'. Nearly all astrobiologist agree that a common trait among nearly all known lifeforms is the use of some kind of a cosmological thermal exchange--heat energy in the universe is used make stuff happen, think photosynthesis or acidic digestion.

But there is another snag. While defining 'life' is tricky, Space is even harder. Most of what's how there is unknown--dark matter. We have no idea about what's floating around in places we don't know about.

In both cases the yes hinges on what we mean by the terms. Those are other debates.

Fermi Paradox suggests that if there is intelligent life here, shouldn't that suggest there is intelligence elsewhere. Aren't we intelligent lifeforms on a rock dwelling in space. If life can happen here, why not elsewhere?

the conditions of space don't really favor carbon based lifeforms. as that is the only known form of life the answer has to be a no or a i don't know.

>>5560615

That doesn't make much sense. Saying space doesn't cater to carbon base lifeforms presupposes that carbon based lifeforms are the measure of what a lifeform really is and that space is mainly capable of making just that kind.

'I don't know' is a safe answer, but 'no' isn't. 'Probably' is a safer answer and is more productive in a scientific sense.

Saying no produces a paradox. For example the trait that makes carbon so versatile in producing lifeforms is its ability to make side chains and stay stable. Is carbon the only one capable of doing this? What about sulfur or silicon? While silicon isn't as stable it can do a lot of the work carbon can?

The paradox is that we are using a measure to which says we are the definition of life, but at them same time disregarding what the definition is attempting capture. It's like saying because there doesn't seem to be anyone else like us, therefore there is nothing else out there.

>>5559656
And thus dark flow was formed.


Anyways I think your best bet would be some sort of bacteria like the ones we have on earth that produces acid to break down minerals and shit. Although how it would move from one asteroid/dust/misc. to another is beyond me. Maybe it ejects its young into a cloud of some sort.

>>5559793
That hurt to read

>>5560607
agreed

>>5559793

The only edgy pseudo-intellectual here is you, big boy.

Water bears!