Metallic Life May Exist in Our Universe - Scientists Created a Metallic Cell

A team from the University of Glasgow has created some cell-like bubbles call iCHELLs out of metallic elements like tungsten bonded with oxygen and phosphorus. These bubbles can self-assemble, and they exhibit many of the same properties that allow biological cells to do what they do, including an internal structure and a selectively porous outer membrane that can let other molecules pass through. It may even be possible to set the metallic cells up to perform photosynthesis.

From the X Files Dept: Alien Metallic Life May Exist in the Universe

We know that there can be silicon-based life forms, as silicon has most similar chemical properties as carbon. Now scientists had created a new cell from metallic materials that could be event used in our everyday technology, including the military one...

This only adds to the fact that we are certainly not alone in the universe. These life forms could thrive in atmosphere without oxygen, even without water.


So what can we expect in our near future ? Maybe your cell phone will wink back at you and have a little cell-phone babies

reply to post by Heckren

Fascinating stuff, and more of the mysteries of space.

The challenge is to creat metallic cells with something like DNA to allow them to self-replicate and evolve, which may in fact be possible --the bubbles can use each other as templates to create more bubbles, and experiments suggest that they may even be able to alter their own chemistry to adapt to different environments. If indeed it's possible for metal life forms to have evolved, it would have massive implications for our search for extraterrestrial life.

Curious about the end result in 'evolution' for this stuff.

Among the fascinating research projects is a wrench that can it disassembles itself back into its components and re-forms into a hammer

Wow!



Peace,
spec

How awesome would it be to find REAL Transformers somewhere out there in the universe?

reply to post by Heckren


I always thought that to emphatically say that life can ONLY be carbon based was a bit of a tunnel visioned view. Cool to hear about the new research. Thanks, OP.

My first thought was the replicators from the stargate series

So what can we expect in our near future ? Maybe your cell phone will wink back at you and have a little cell-phone babies

Oh sure, it starts with a little wink......

That just sounds wrong on soooo many levels

This is why I think that life can exist in ALL conditions now matter how harsh. It just depends where you look.

This is probably the coolest story i have read today. imagine having a metal based wife that could be there for sex then transform into a footstool when you are watching football?

Coming soon to a military base near you...the T-1000 combat prototype.

reply to post by speculativeoptimist

I'm afriad Stargate's "Replicators" came to mind before the Borg from Star Trek did. Then again, if someone is really short on new things to think about in the dark, before sleep comes..'Screamers' comes to mind as well. Great OP piece but one scary thought by the movies and TV images we've all seen and been conditioned by for decades.


On the serious side... Wow is the appropriate term I think. I've always felt that when we get off this rock we'll find life to be the rule, not the exception in our Galaxy, even if advanced life is exceptionally rare. This suggests the wonders of how that life exists may be far more interesting than the fact it's there in the first place.

S/F for a great new concept to imagine!

Originally posted by Meekbot2000
imagine having a metal based wife that could be there for sex then transform into a footstool when you are watching football?

Sounds painful.

This could mean that Transformers might be real?
2nd