Comments on: Finding Answers to Life’s Big Questions… In Comets

By: alloycowboy

alloycowboy — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:10:11 +0000

I wouldn’t get to excited about finding C2H5NO2 in a comet, it goes to reason that simple chemical compounds are pretty pleantiful in the universe. The Interesting part is how these simple compounds morph into highly complex strands of DNA which generate in to a highly complex organism that is the sum of more then its bio chemistry.

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:25:01 +0000

I hope this means we will find tasty new life forms to snack on in our solar system. It’s another good reason to get to Europa quickly. Seriously, it is interesting news. Glycine is the smallest of the amino acids and probably a durable molecule, so it’s a natural first amino acid to find in space. I have to wonder if there is any chance that finding glycine in the sample was due to contamination. It doesn’t take much and there is plenty of glycine in our environment, even in bacteria. I would suggest that we don’t know if the glycine in a comet was formed when the comet was in a temperate phase. After all, a lot can happen to a comet in a few billion years and we don’t have much evidence for our conjectures.

By: Darryl Rabon

Darryl Rabon — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:05:34 +0000

I find your podcasts fascinating. Leo sometimes doesn’t seem to let you get a word in, though. Just jump in, he won’t mind.

Anyway I’m thinking there’s so much more we’ll learn about the “seeds of creation” that we’ll look back on this age as our infancy.

My dad was a civil engineer and “scientist” at USGS in water resources, so I got it from the cradle - keep up the good work; I know Americans can be illiterate sometimes in science and expert in celebrity matters, but hang in there, you may be both popular with the masses and respected given time.

Information is a science too. I’ve found so many fields “cross wires” (as Joseph Campbell might have said) and that interdisciplinary approaches seem to work best, IMO.

But I’m just an amateur. I know the sky on a clear night brings me solace. There are benefits to being stuck in the country without big city lights.

I just hope civilization has a real chance if the comets brought get a little close. Do you think activity was more dangerous in the early days of the universe/galaxy/solar system? Are we protected more now by the odds given “lesser activity”? I’m thinking the moon may be a false indication of nearby strikes.
(I aspire to be a glass “half-full” person).

Have you seen the movie “Stardust”? We humans do have our art. Kubrick’s 2001 is my favorite, though. Intelligence to me is the cream rising to the top. I think the internet may be earth’s salvation.

I find it difficult to believe that ALL the elements other than basic ones come from comets and/or other projectiles, but the time scales are so enormous - who knows? We must take our first baby steps to get to understandings that let us know how much we don’t know.

Keep appealing to the “intelligent laity” - we don’t need to get lost in jargon. I love the down to earth approach.

What do they say, 100 billion earth-like planets in our galaxy and an “infinite” number of galaxies? Life must be out there, but it really might be “out there”. I hope the new administration finds the money to help out SETI and NASA to find out what we can. We owe it to ourselves.

A wag might say Comet Showers bring “Mayflowers” i.e. time to move off earth with a “moving van”.

[heretic in chat]

By: David

David — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:33:37 +0000

Oh my head is light with excitement (I know, I should get a life). I live in good ol’ Kansas and I deal with creationist on a daily basis. When I mention this to them next time, they will cover their ears and go “la la la…”
Last, and not detracting one bit from this post, are there degrees of plausibility?

By: Andreas Næsby Rasmussen

Andreas Næsby Rasmussen — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:41:21 +0000

Nice write up and fascinating thoughts. But I never understood the need for the building blocks of life coming from space. How would this make understanding the process easier, as you then have to explain how the building blocks collected in the asteroids?

I also thought I read recently that the basic process had finally been realized in a lab.