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From: eugene@aurora.UUCP (Eugene miya)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Non-carbon based life
Message-ID: <873@aurora.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 6-Aug-87 21:11:09 EDT
Article-I.D.: aurora.873
Posted: Thu Aug  6 21:11:09 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 8-Aug-87 14:49:08 EDT
References: <265@askja.UUCP>
Reply-To: eugene@aurora.UUCP (Eugene miya)
Distribution: world
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center
Lines: 25

Hum, always an interesting question. (Cleaning my news groups, so I don't
read this, I'll ask Greg, one of the exobiology types, what he thinks.)

Please consider answering the following:

1) What is life (biological sense)?

2) How do you test for it?  (Were 3 tests on Viking enough [out of 100s]?)

3) It's not just carbon, it's carbon-water, what solvent would silicon use?
Water is pretty amazing stuff.

4) Does Si-based life reduce O2?

This latter question is directed because Titan has a very heavy Methane
atmosphere and we were postulating CH4 oceans, snows (on "land"), and clouds.
Solid CH4 does not float in liquid CH4.  NH3 might be another candidate.

From the Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers:

--eugene miya
  NASA Ames Research Center
  eugene@ames-aurora.ARPA
  "You trust the `reply' command with all those different mailers out there?"
  {hplabs,hao,nike,ihnp4,decwrl,allegra,tektronix,menlo70}!ames!aurora!eugene