Inside Bearleft.net
Best Of BearLeft.net
A Cry Heard Round The World: Kim Sun-Il died desperate and alone, but he did not die unheard.
Looking At And Longing For Mars: Reflections on a childhood dream.
A Robot May Not Harm a Human Being. Is The Opposite True?: Thoughts on the future rights of artificial intelligence.
Long After The Boys Of Summer Have Gone: What makes a relationship work?
Winter Of Our Feline Discontent: What the cat wants, the cat gets. But what DOES it want?
To Tell The Truth: There may be no honor among thieves, but can't we find it even in a few good men and women?
Should The Human Brain Retire?: We know that we cannot win forever. We know that machines will continue to improve. So why don't we let the human brain retire gracefully now, with honors?
Translate This Page
Read Bear Left in:
Chinese
German
Japanese
Korean
French
Italian
Portuguese
Spanish
Translations powered by Alta Vista Babelfish
Privacy Policy
To learn how services incorporated into this blog may use personal information, click here.
Total entries in this blog:
Published: Sep 16, 2005 01:41 PM
Thu - September 18, 2003
Perhaps Extraterrestrial Life Doesn't "Matter"
Romanian scientists stretch the
definition of life in an unexpected direction.
In
a discovery
that could rewrite how scientists define life, physicists at Cuza
University in Romania have created blobs of plasma gas that can
grow, replicate, and communicate like living
cells.
The researchers studied environmental conditions similar to those on Earth before life began, when the planet was enveloped in electric storms that caused ionized gases called plasmas to form in the atmosphere:
The researchers studied environmental conditions similar to those on Earth before life began, when the planet was enveloped in electric storms that caused ionized gases called plasmas to form in the atmosphere:
- They inserted two electrodes into a chamber containing a low-temperature plasma of argon—a gas in which some of the atoms have been split into electrons and charged ions. They applied a high voltage to the electrodes, producing an arc of energy that flew across the gap between them, like a miniature lightning strike.
[T]his electric spark caused a high concentration of ions and electrons to accumulate at the positively charged electrode, which spontaneously formed spheres. Each sphere had a boundary made up of two layers - an outer layer of negatively charged electrons and an inner layer of positively charged ions.
Trapped inside the boundary was an inner nucleus of gas atoms. The amount of energy in the initial spark governed their size and lifespan.
So the next time a relative launches into a tiresome story full of hot air, remember this: There may be "life" in the tale yet.