Cumulative General Science/Technology Quiz

[GoodGame]

Me too. That has to be some sort of mite. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mite)
I doubt anyone on this board can ID one by sight though.

 

[sepamu92]

That's a water bear, I think.

No idea why it's alien though.

 

[ori]

That's a water bear, I think.

No idea why it's alien though.

you are right in that it is a water bear. It does have some properties that make some people claim it traveled through outer space - what might those be

 

[El_Machinae]

Acid blood?

 

[ori]

Acid blood?

that would be this fellow:

 

[GoodGame]

Can I quote wikipedia in the interest of a new question?

He's extremely resistant to environmental stresses----temperature extremes, lack of atmosphere (total vacuum), and lack of water. The exact length of time he can go with out water is debated; Some cite only 10 years reliably, others extend that to a claim of a century. (Overall, a century is very irrelevant to space travel durations, so I doubt this guy hopped a comet between solar systems or something, though it'd be pretty neat if he could harvest the ice in a comet).

 

[ori]

why spoil a perfectly fine question with wikipedia?

anyway: sepamu92 is up - he got the water bear right

 

[Perfection]

Who are these "some people"?

 

[ori]

Who are these "some people"?

these people - sorry I can only access the abstract...

 

[Perfection]

They most clearly do not believe they are alien life forms!

 

[ori]

I misunderstood you - should have had another before typing...

some people would e.g. be this guy - as in this book - though I would say it is a fringe view, makes good headlines though.

Those water bears are remarkable though in that they survive extreme temperature differences, pressure differences and differences in hydration...

 

[sepamu92]

Bah, I'm terrible at coming up with questions.

So what's the name of those super-fast-spinning neutron stars that like, flash light at us and junk?

 

[brennan]

Pulsars.90

 

[sepamu92]

Pulsars.90

YUP

 

[brennan]

Why was the first detected Pulsar dubbed the 'LGM' signal?

 

[ainwood]

LGM = Little Green Man.

It was believed that such a regular pulse on radio frequencies was an indication of intelligent life trying to contact other intelligent life.

 

[Perfection]

I misunderstood you - should have had another before typing...

some people would e.g. be this guy - as in this book - though I would say it is a fringe view, makes good headlines though.

Those water bears are remarkable though in that they survive extreme temperature differences, pressure differences and differences in hydration...

You also seem to be misunderstanding Pickover. Pickover's "alien tardigrades" aren't literally tardigrades, but hypothetical creatures that would share its resiliance. He in no way implies that tardigrades are alien.

 

[ori]

You also seem to be misunderstanding Pickover. Pickover's "alien tardigrades" aren't literally tardigrades, but hypothetical creatures that would share its resiliance. He in no way implies that tardigrades are alien.

I should be more careful in what I quote then - I misunderstood his stuff indeed - i.e. I lumped it in with a couple of tin-foil hat sites which I found. Probably was too quick to jump to conclusions there...
Actually the real source of this argument eludes me since I just remembered hearing/reading it in a description of their properties and when posting this question I just googled some queries and when I found what I thought was what I was looking for I asked I'll check my next question better

Edit: so it wasn't that fine a question after all - apologies to goodgame

 

[GoodGame]

Are we up to 72 hours per questions? Ainwood got LGM right BTW.

Don't worry Ori, I have thick skin.
I could see those creatures being confabulated into a panspermia hypothesis, though without the evidence they hibernate for thousands of years or eat comet ice, that would be a very fringe hypothesis.

 

[Perfection]

Anyone who would think that water bears are viable as either an alein creature or as a viable means of panspermia is out of thier gourd.

Water bears are animals with all of its evolutionary trappings, which means they evolved on Earth and thus are not aliens.

As a viable means of panspermia, water bears wouldn't work, because they (being animals) are heterotrophs, that is they can't turn inorganic matter into organic matter.

That and panspermia is not viable in the first place anyways.




Also, I second the going of Ainwood. He is correct.