New species 'live without oxygen' -- Implications that life could exist on other planets?

source

"It is a real mystery how these creatures are able to live without oxygen because until now we thought only bacteria could do this."

Lisa Levin, of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, wrote in the journal BMC Biology that further research into animals that can live without oxygen could help scientists examining the possibility of alien life existing on other planets.

I considered putting this the AnU forum, but thought the science forum was better suited. These little guys were found in the Mediterranean and can exist in oxygen-less environments, previsouly only thought possible by bacteria.

Scientists are starting to understand that oxygen is not necessarily a prerequisite for life, and this find could open the doors in exploring for extraterrestrial life. Prior to this oxygen was thought to be 100% necessary to sustain life, but now we know this is not the case.

They are only a millimeter long and look like any other quasi microscopic animal, but neat nonetheless!

reply to post by youdidntseeme


I KNEW there had to be some type of little critter out there that would be able to survive without oxygen.

I always wondered why scientists always assumed that just because we need oxygen, that all other life forms (minus bacteria, of course) had to have it also.

I love it when something like this comes along and blows the minds of scientists. Really does make you wonder what else is out there!

Originally posted by gemineye
I love it when something like this comes along and blows the minds of scientists.

Really does make you wonder what else is out there!

ISnt it great when almighty science is struck down by new discoveries

I've always thought it pompous of the human race to think that everything is figured out, because it is true in some lab here on earth. Discoveries like this that rewrite the books fascinate me all the time.

Now if I can just disprove gravity...

Originally posted by youdidntseeme

Originally posted by gemineye
I love it when something like this comes along and blows the minds of scientists.

Really does make you wonder what else is out there!

ISnt it great when almighty science is struck down by new discoveries

I've always thought it pompous of the human race to think that everything is figured out, because it is true in some lab here on earth. Discoveries like this that rewrite the books fascinate me all the time.

Now if I can just disprove gravity...

In fact, science has known of anaerobic organisms for a very long time. The difference here is that this particular organism is multicellular, whereas the yeast we use to make our beer and our bread is not (not to mention the countless other single celled organisms that do not require oxygen for reproduction, etc.).

Science is open to all possibilities, but it is of course still surprising to find something so out of the ordinary. We base our knowledge off of observed, reproducible and falsifiable experimental data. Certainly, we know that we don't have everything figured out. Gosh, I would be out of a career if the scientific community thought that.

Some people may take the world we see for granted and assume that, 'this is it', but you shouldn't accuse scientists of being so simple and close minded.

In reference to the article, I think it is an amazing find. I would very much like to get an in depth description of how their metabolism functions when the results come out.

reply to post by hypervalentiodine


Thank you for your response, and every point you have made is quite true, I like to needle the scientific community a bit, but you are right...

What are your thoughts on the implications of multicellular anerobic organisms of off planet life?

Side question....forgive my ignorance of scientific processes, but would this organism create energy through a cellular respiration process,, and wouldnt this process be a lot less effective that the normal creation of ATP?

Originally posted by youdidntseeme
reply to post by hypervalentiodine

 

Thank you for your response, and every point you have made is quite true, I like to needle the scientific community a bit, but you are right...

What are your thoughts on the implications of multicellular anerobic organisms of off planet life?

Side question....forgive my ignorance of scientific processes, but would this organism create energy through a cellular respiration process,, and wouldnt this process be a lot less effective that the normal creation of ATP?

I'm not sure what the implications would be other than to greater understand the world we live in.

I do not think that they would undergo cellular respiration to generate ATP, since it requires oxygen. They may use the fermentation process, though I would only be speculating.

Originally posted by hypervalentiodine

I do not think that they would undergo cellular respiration to generate ATP, since it requires oxygen. They may use the fermentation process, though I would only be speculating.

Fermentation....my mistake...been awhile since my bio courses
and to think I once taught it too :embarrassed:

Originally posted by youdidntseeme

Originally posted by hypervalentiodine

I do not think that they would undergo cellular respiration to generate ATP, since it requires oxygen. They may use the fermentation process, though I would only be speculating.

Fermentation....my mistake...been awhile since my bio courses

and to think I once taught it too :embarrassed:

Haha. Me too. Though I refuse to tutor/teach it. I get made to tutor outside my comfort zone enough as it is.

Anyway, if it were fermentation, then they would have to have all sorts of ways of coping with the byproducts, especially being multicellular. Tis' very interesting.