Stuff.co.nz reports
Russian space officials have confirmed traces of plankton and other micro-organisms were found living on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS), and it appears they've been living there for years.
This was also reported by c|net and ITAR-TASS.
How does this affect your views on finding life of some sort elsewhere in the universe?
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Sea Plankton Found on Outside of International Space Station
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by nyder on Friday August 22 2014, @12:41AM
It's doesn't. I figured there has to be life else where in the universe, since it's stupid to think we are that special.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Buck Feta on Friday August 22 2014, @01:02AM
Hey, at least we're smart enough to ride on the INSIDE of the station.
- fractious political commentary goes here -
(Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday August 22 2014, @01:30AM
Speaking of rides, I hate to put my dick in all your mashed potatoes, but those "outer space life forms" are of Earth origin.
Yeah, I know, actually reading the article. But who the fuck does that?
(Score: 2, Funny) by Buck Feta on Friday August 22 2014, @01:48AM
That wooshing sound was the ISS passing overhead.
- fractious political commentary goes here -
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 22 2014, @10:26AM
Sorry, but in space, nobody hears you whoosh.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by evilviper on Friday August 22 2014, @03:47AM
We have woefully insufficient data to make any determination.
It's just as stupid to think we are special, as it is to think that we aren't special.
Sure, there's an astronomical number of chances for it to happen out there, but it could be equally as astronomically unlikely for it to happen. Mixing together amino acids in the lab hasn't been successful, thus far.
Hydrogen cyanide is a delicious and necessary part of the human diet.
(Score: 2) by Aighearach on Saturday August 23 2014, @03:57AM
We are the Martian Martians!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 22 2014, @12:58AM
> How does this affect your views on finding life of some sort elsewhere in the universe?
My guess is that green matter makes up the bulk of the missing mass of the universe.
(Score: 1) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 22 2014, @01:49AM
As someone who has travelled recently I think it's a comment on airline food. It was probably a celebrity chef doing a TV special for the Russian space authority a decade ago, so there was a week in 2004 where the cosmonauts woke up to a TV crew and squid ink salad in quarter inch cubes with a green tea jelly for breakfast. What your measuring on the exterior surface of they ship happens to be downstream from the nearest evac port.
I wouldnt start worrying until it either looks like a man-sized suit of skin, eats thru the hull, or your android becomes more interested in getting a sample back to earth than say the copilot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 22 2014, @10:28AM
> My guess is that green matter makes up the bulk of the missing mass of the universe.
you sir, are a genius!
(Score: 5, Funny) by SpongeBob on Friday August 22 2014, @01:43AM
I, For One, Welcome Our Spacefaring Plankton Overlords
Your humble servant,
SpongeBob SquarePants
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Friday August 22 2014, @02:29AM
You get all my imaginary mod points for Funny.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday August 22 2014, @05:16AM
My question exactly! Are we dealing with Sandy Plankton from next door, (_Finding Nemo_), or the evil Plankton, proprietor of the Chumbucket? (_Sponge_Bob). This would seem to be a significant difference, and we have a right to know!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by mhajicek on Friday August 22 2014, @03:47AM
It means life wouldn't necessarily have to develop to our level on one planet, in one planet's lifetime, or even one star's lifetime.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by evilviper on Friday August 22 2014, @03:56AM
"My God! It's full of plankton!"
Maybe they're the "dark matter" we're lookin for.
Hydrogen cyanide is a delicious and necessary part of the human diet.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by SlimmPickens on Friday August 22 2014, @04:00AM
Surely the lack of water means they were only living there in the sense that they were not dead. In my opinion, finding some non-functioning terrestrial life nearby it's origin is not relevant to the possibility for extraterrestrial life.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by frojack on Friday August 22 2014, @06:06AM
Not dead? Maybe just freeze dried.
My guess is the are just freeze dried after being blown aloft by storms.
Spiders and assorted microbes have previously been found at the edge of space [yahoo.com]
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by sudo rm -rf on Friday August 22 2014, @07:27AM
I was about to say just that. It's not hard to imagine that micro organisms can be raised to the upper level of the atmosphere by storms from where solar wind is blowing them out to space. After all, they don't weigh very much. (Radiopanspermia [wikipedia.org])
(Score: 5, Informative) by AnonTechie on Friday August 22 2014, @07:39AM
Dandruff Fungus Found In Deep Sea Vents, Lobster Guts, And Other Random Places:
What do human scalps, deep sea vents, and Antarctic soil have in common? As it turns out, all of these places are home to one weird group of fungi. A study published today in the journal PLOS Pathogens ( http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1004277 [plospathogens.org] ) found that fungi of the genus Malassezia are just about everywhere. And we do mean everywhere.
Scientists have known for quite a while that some species of Malassezia were associated with dandruff and other skin conditions like eczema, and they had long assumed that these fungi were specialized to live on skin. The fungus, which relies on a host to provide fatty acids, is incredibly difficult for scientists to cultivate, or grow in a lab, and it flew under the radar for years. Now the fungus has turned up in the guts of lobster larvae, hydrothermal vents, the roots of orchids and many other incredibly different places.
http://www.popsci.com/article/science/dandruff-fungus-found-deep-sea-vents-lobster-guts-and-other-random-places [popsci.com]
Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."