Japan's asteroid probe reportedly found 20 amino acids
- Reference: 1654581314
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/06/07/japans_asteroid_probe_reportedly_found/
- Source link:
Which is very exciting indeed, because amino acids are the stuff of life. They help to build proteins, act as neurotransmitters in the brain, and are utterly ubiquitous and essential in terrestrial life. Just last month, esteemed journal Nature [1]published research suggesting that amino acids had a crucial role in the evolution of the first self-replicating molecules.
Outlets such as Nikkei [2]report that a Science ministry spokesperson mentioned the presence of amino acids yesterday, with a hint of peer-reviewed work to come but no other detail.
[3]
That's scant information, but Japanese space agency JAXA has previously hinted it would share big news about Hayabusa2 in the (northern) spring. The presence of amino acids on asteroid Ryugu qualifies as very big news, because one of the mysteries of the universe is how and why life evolved here on Earth.
[4]
[5]
One theory is that the ingredients for life can be found in space, and their occasional encounters with comets, asteroids, planets or moons allows life to spread.
[6]You wood not believe what a Japanese logging company and university want to use to build a small satellite
[7]ESA and JAXA release Mercury eyecandy, courtesy of spacecraft BepiColumbo
[8]Japan's aerospace agency hooks up with Boeing to make planes quieter when they land
Finding amino acids on Ryugu is a boost for that theory.
There's a long way to go before the theory solidifies. For starters, Hayabusa2 brought just 5.4 grams of asteroid material to Earth and Ryugu is just one of countless asteroids. Peer-reviewed research is yet to appear.
On the upside, amino acids were also found on the Moon. On the downside, Japan's first asteroid sample return mission found only rocks.
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It's probably therefore a little premature to declare we are not alone. But if you want to believe, perhaps the likelihood there's other life out there has increased a little. ®
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[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01303-z
[2] https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Science/Key-substance-for-life-found-in-Japan-probe-s-asteroid-samples
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Yp8hxljWsppnS15-jaaocwAAAE4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yp8hxljWsppnS15-jaaocwAAAE4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Yp8hxljWsppnS15-jaaocwAAAE4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/04/wooden_satellite_japan/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/04/bepicolombo_mercury_flyby/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/20/jaxa_boeing_acoustic_research/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yp8hxljWsppnS15-jaaocwAAAE4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Which amino acids?
Exciting stuff - although probably not surprising that Amino Acids have been found. We've known since the 50's that they have a habit of popping into existence if the constituent elements are present.
So yes - which ones? How complex? etc etc.
"perhaps the likelihood there's other life out there has increased a little."
The likelihood hasn't changed at all.
However, us puny humans have increased our knowledge on the subject a trifle.
Weren't amino acids also found [1]in comets ?
So bricks of life may be common... it could be another reason to send mission to Europe and Enceladus.
[1] https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Rosetta/Rosetta_s_comet_contains_ingredients_for_life
"So bricks of life may be common... it could be another reason to send mission to Europe and Enceladus."
You *might* find life in Europe, the only question is "Will it be intelligent?".
After Brexit the probability will be higher!
Oh dear! Did I forget the joke alert icon ..... again?!?
No, you just forgot that the UK is still in Europe, just not in the EU.
Rule of life No. 37: Never let the truth stand in the way of a good joke!
Icons don't help much when a large portion of your audience is perfectly happy dishing it out, but can't take similar humo(u)r in return.
A statistician would argue ....
.... that there is life elsewhere in the Universe. The only questions are how much, how evolved, and how far.
Our best guess is that intelligent, technically advanced life is rare enough that the nearest is far enough away that they haven’t noticed us, or their reply has not arrived yet, both depend on the speed of light and the inverse square law.
It is possible that we might find non-intelligent life within our solar system, but as a previous poster implied there are a limited number of places left that we believe might harbour it.
But then the free thinker / crank / conspiracy theorist would argue ....
.... alternatively, if we are living in a simulation (aka The Matrix), then the fact that the nearest solar system is (currently) beyond our reach and that we have not observed life outside of our solar system may just be devices employed by the programmer of the simulation to simplify things so that they don’t have to expend much computing power beyond our solar system.
This means that we could just be some school science project!
Re: But then the free thinker / crank / conspiracy theorist would argue ....
programmer of the simulation
Makes you wonder what sort of universe the 'programmer of the simulation' exists in, or is he in fact also in a recursive simulation.
[1]The Recursive Universe, Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge
[1] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Recursive-Universe-Complexity-Scientific-Knowledge/dp/048649098X
Re: But then the free thinker / crank / conspiracy theorist would argue ....
The universes are all a load of cobollers.
Re: But then the free thinker / crank / conspiracy theorist would argue ....
"The universes are all a load of old cobollers."
FTFY
TINOC
Re: But then the free thinker / crank / conspiracy theorist would argue ....
One of the probable effects of being in a simulation would be that when you start looking at extremely small/large interval/scales/movements, in fact most measurable values, you are going to run into upper and lower limits beyond which it is impossible to measure. And these are likely to be the limits of the stored values for position, velocity, charge, etc. for the system that is being used to run the simulation.
Due to this you are likely to observe differences in the laws of a simulated Universe at very small/large scales, increasing the closer you get to the limits of the stored values.
I'm just glad that we don't see such effects in our own Uni ..... Oh! Did someone mention the Planck Scale? And I think someone else is muttering about Quantum Mechanics! And I'm sure I heard time dilation in there somewhere!
Re: A statistician would argue ....
" Our best guess is that intelligent, technically advanced life is rare enough "
IMHO, 'intelligent' and 'technically advanced' are independent variables. There are quite a few creatures in this planet that exhibit advanced intelligence but do not employ what we would consider to be 'technologies', and indeed there's plenty of evidence of high intelligence among 'primitive' and 'early' peoples - quite possibly at least as high as ours. Otherwise they would not have survived in much more hazardous environments than we face, despite their technologies being very 'low'.
One of the best evidences of high intelligence could indeed be existing contentedly with minimal technological footprint - and it might in fact be the safest option for survival as a species.
Ancient intuitions supported by evidence?
Joni Mitchell would probably be gratified, as she suggested this in 1969 (Woodstock). And indeed Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī made reference to a suggestion broadly along these lines in the thirteenth century CE. Admittedly (rather like Lucretius' touching on atomic theory) he was not being scientific in the modern sense (nor was Joni), but the idea has clearly been tantalising thinking minds for centuries, so it's great that some evidence is emerging to potentially support its validity.
Which amino acids?
I'd love to hear more about this. Can't wait!