And then got swallowed by a bigger blob and retained for the advantages they gave.

It's not provable, but it's plausible enough.

Symbiosis in Cell Evolution (Margulis, 1981) includes the proposition that endosymbiotic spirochaetes became eukaryotic flagellum and cilia, though it hasn't gained much favour since both structures lack both DNA and ultrastructural similarities to bacteria and archaea.

MM, it wouldn't have happened with the prokaryotic flagellum. I don't know of any prokaryotes that have been the larger beneficiary of endosymbiosis. Also, the bacterial flagellum is a molecular engine with rotary parts, it would be like expecting an outboard motor to sail without a boat. And the bacterial flagellum is already understood to simply be a Type III secretory and transport system (normally used to injected eukaryotic cells with toxins) with a long and large protein chain on the end of it.

That was a dickhead on the internet who spotted a rock in a photograph that looked vaguely like a stump of wood. The 'petrified wood' is not recognised as such by anyone who knows what they're talking about.

Fair enough.

No.

There could've been life a long time ago, but if we want to see life on other planets today, we would have to search dozens of light years away from our solar system.

life might be anywhere,it doesnt mean that we have to go thousands of lightyears to find life,mabe neighbouring stars harbour with life

We need to search MA's vagina, I hear there's life in them acidic enzymes he secretes.

MA's vagina is like Venus. Acidic and sulphurish.

Spoocaholic made a good point. Life may have ended elsewhere, maybe the time will come when humanity finds a terrestrial planet with no life then uncover a vast necropolis.

Anyone heard about the Mars monolith?

It's more like Jupiter. Because it's fucking massive.

The 'phobos' monolith was likely explained two years ago...either that or there really are necrons under mars trying to awaken the Void Dragon.

It's just a rock. You know, rocks?

Yep, it's a rock.

No doubt you've turned over a rock in your lifetime and found something interesting living under it, no?

I hope I'm alive for the day someone goes to Mars and a full excavation gets underway.

uh?

I've yet to encounter an uninteresting rock.

Rocks galore!

They rock!

I can't find that image from the Spongebob movie.

You're an idiot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xfC7...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pa1O...89A171912AC8FD
this is far more appropriate! Dick!

Holy shit. I remember seeing that at the movies and thinking it was the best thing.

I remember watching the first series with my Gran when I was 5, the last episode of the first series with the marching band and the super dome! Good times.

There. It is now enshrined on the web for all eternity. Now disregard the last four posts.

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/2449/rockr.png

I agree. Disregard the previous four posts. And don't spam any more.

aparently they found evidance that mars used to have water ( clifs formed by running water, rocks that can only be made in sustained contact with water) at which time life may have arissen, however the water was blown away in by solar winds because mars had insafissient gravity and atmosphere, they say there could still be moister and possably Bacteria in underground caves.

if there was any sea life it is now trapped in an ice chunk floating in space

Mars has polar ice caps, I believe.

Mainly frozen CO2 though.

Have you ever seen Mars Attacks?

I bet they live there.

AAAT AAAT DAAAT DAAAT

I always imagined it as 'Raaaek'.

Raek-Raek, raek, raek, RAAEK RAAEK

War of the Worlds guys.

is that the one were the aliens main weakness is thier heads explode when they hear Yodeling?

This song.



I'd call this off-topic, but technically it's about aliens.

They'd stay under the kotatsu duh

God damn it. I had hoped we'd have moved on to something else before this thing popped up.

I saw the live stage show for that. Jeff Wayne is the absolute best.

Also ULLAH

how long could someone survive in space without a space suit, assuming the best conditions

I can't quite tell what the best conditions would be.

All air in your lungs would immediately be forced out. That would probably happen through your mouth, but it's possible that your chest would pop like a balloon. You would have a sudden and critical case of the bends, causing sharp pains in every joint and probably stopping you from moving in any way. And every fluid in your body would boil and evaporate away.

Sooo... I'm going to say about half a second.

What are the best conditions in space supposed to be? Slightly less freezing cold? Not quite as vacuum-y?

I used to think that about the fluids too, but it's not the case. You'd experience some swelling, perhaps up to twice your normal size, but the tissues are elastic enough to keep from bursting. But all the fluids in the body are under pressure already, simply from tissues and membranes, thus while the temperature at which blood and other fluids boil is reduced, it remains above 37 degrees C. You can expect your saliva and tears to boil off, which is surely an interesting sensation.

We've demonstrated it on animals, which show that complete recovery is normal for exposures shorter than 90 seconds, much longer if breathing is not impaired. The only human examples are brief and non-fatal accidents, and one of a series of human experiments for the Luftwaffe on prisoners at Dachau camp in 1942.

Rapid decompression can cause physical trauma.


Other exposure dangers in space include radiation and dust particles, which travel at very high speed. Cold isn't much of a problem: most heat loss of earth occurs from conduction, which is... rather limited in a vacuum. Only heat radiation is an issue, a long-term one.

the best place in space to be is definitely the surface of planet Earth, though I'd be very choosy about my precise location. Lots of places to be that are as inhospitable as the vacuum of space.

Say what?!

Dust. You know dust? Sand, really, and finer. Little stones. Micrometeorites. They're not actually common, even in the asteroid belt any pebble is likely kilometers away from its neighbour. Still, wouldn't like to get hit by one. Be like getting shot.

Well i knew dust was in space. I just didn't know they could be dangerous.