David Pescovitz: New studies of dust that form lifelike structures suggest that extraterrestrial life may not be carbon-based at all. Researchers at the Russian Academy of Science, the Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in German, and the University of Sydney observed particles of inorganic dust form helical structures and go through other "lifelike" changes. The experiments took place under simulated plasma conditions, representative of space and also the primordial Earth. These inorganic structures may have even led to the organic molecules of life that we're familiar with, and made from. From the Institute of Physics press release:
Quite bizarrely, not only do these helical strands interact in a counterintuitive way in which like can attract like, but they also undergo changes that are normally associated with biological molecules, such as DNA and proteins, say the researchers. They can, for instance, divide, or bifurcate, to form two copies of the original structure. These new structures can also interact to induce changes in their neighbours and they can even evolve into yet more structures as less stable ones break down, leaving behind only the fittest structures in the plasma.
So, could helical clusters formed from interstellar dust be somehow alive? "These complex, self-organized plasma structures exhibit all the necessary properties to qualify them as candidates for inorganic living matter," says (V.N.) Tsytovich, "they are autonomous, they reproduce and they evolve".
Link to press release, Link to New Journal of Physics paper
(via Boing Boing)
