MyQJ | QJ.NET | Apple | Mobile | Science | MMORPG | Nintendo DS | Wii | World of Warcraft | PlayStation 3 | PSP | Xbox 360 | Gadgets | PC Gaming | Age of Conan | Downloads | QJ.NET Forums

Titan:Indicator of earth's younger days?

Posted Nov 08, 2006 at 04:34AM by Tim Y. Listed in: Space Exploration, Biology Tags: NASA, ESA, Titan Panel, Saturn, Cassini
Ó

Titan


The next time you start asking about how life on Earth started out, don't be surprised if researchers don't talk about their most recent archaeological dig, but instead say something in the lines of looking to the heavens. Naah, they haven't turned to Astrology.

We've already mentioned in an earlier article that it's been recently discovered that Titan, one of Saturn's moons, has large methane deposits circulating in a very similar manner as the winds and rivers on Earth. It turns out that organic particles, created by sunlight interacting with the Titan's methane-laden atmosphere, may provide clues to what earth was like 3.6 billion years ago, when primitive life was only beginning to exist.

Taking a cure from this recent observation by the NASA-ESA Cassini-Huygens mission, scientist Margaret Tolbert and her colleagues over at the University of Colorado pulled off this experiment to replicate the conditions that occur on Titan. They irradiated a methane cloud with UV rays, and then injected it with CO2 gas to see what would happen. Sure enough, the resulting reaction created a haze of organic molecules very similar to that on Titan - molecules that were digestible for early life on earth.

"That would have been a food source for any budding life," Tolbert said regarding the results. "And it would have been, importantly, a global food source. And so life, instead of being confined to certain very special environments, could have thrived in every puddle."

[Via Reuters] Permalink  |   Email this  |   Linking Blogs   |   Digg It!

Bookmark / Find this article on:

3 Jumps     Give your home some balls with the Energy Ball
1 Jumps     2008 set to become coldest year of the century
1 Jumps     Dubai-based Timelinks looking to construct modern-day Ziggurat
1 Jumps     MythBusters' Adam Savage: the truth is, Science isn't about truth

0 Comments


Sort by:


Featured Content
Contact
QJ.NET Blog Network RSS Feeds
MyQJ Feed / PDA
MyQJ RSS / PDA
Blog of Blogs Feed / PDA
QJ.NET RSS / PDA
Gaming Consoles Feed / PDA
Nintendo DS RSS / PDA
PlayStation 3 RSS / PDA
PSP Updates RSS / PDA
Wii RSS / PDA
Xbox 360 RSS / PDA
PC Gaming Feed / PDA
Age of Conan RSS / PDA
Games for Windows RSS / PDA
MMORPG RSS / PDA
Tabula Rasa RSS / PDA
World of Warcraft RSS / PDA
Science Feed / PDA
Science RSS / PDA
Technology Feed / PDA
Apple RSS / PDA
Gadgets RSS / PDA
iPhone RSS / PDA
Mobile RSS / PDA
Photography RSS / PDA
Tech RSS / PDA
Add QJ.NET
Add to My Yahoo!
Google Reader Subscribe with Bloglines
Add to your Kinja digest Subscribe in NewsGator Online
Subscribe with Pluck RSS reader Add 'www.qj.net' to Newsburst from CNET News.com
Subscribe with SearchFox RSS del.icio.us www.qj.net
Add to Technorati Favorite! Add to My AOL
furl! it Stumble for Treehugger!
User Favorites - September
Most Commented
(20)
(16)
(9)
(8)
(8)
(7)
(5)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(1)
(1)
(1)
User Favorites - September
Top Jumps
SatFinder Portable v1.3.2: .. (37)
MythBusters' Adam Savage: .. (22)
Give your home some balls w.. (17)
Arctic Ice retreats, North .. (8)
Dubai-based Timelinks looki.. (5)
Scientists discover how to .. (4)
M2E developing phone charge.. (3)
Laptops aboard ISS infected.. (2)
Mars webcam now live (2)
Mythbusters tackle the Moon.. (1)
2008 set to become coldest .. (1)
ReWalk: medical exoskeleton.. (1)
Dead Sea Scrolls to be put .. (1)

 Username: 
 Password:
Forgot password
New user registration



Poll
Are unidentified flying objects (UFOs) really alien spaceships?
Earth Science
General Science
Health Science
Space
Archives


Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of the TERMS & CONDITIONS and PRIVACY POLICY
Copyright © 2006, Content Holdings, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Version. 1.31