In the process of searching for extraterrestrial life, astronomers usually use life on Earth as the standard. This standard is normal. After all, we cannot turn a blind eye to such rich and colorful life on Earth.
However, the landscape of the earth is not common in the universe. There are forests, seas, and lakes on the earth, but the planets observed by astronomers are basically dead planets, with two extremes: completely frozen, or hot planets with almost no grass growing. .
On the earth, life exists everywhere, even in the harshest environments, as long as liquid water exists, life can be found.
Some scientists believe that life is a product of nature. As long as the conditions are met, life will definitely occur. However, the life produced is not necessarily human or advanced carbon-based life. It is more likely to be single-celled low-level life, which will be the most common form of life in the universe.
This view of scientists is not entirely speculation, but is based on experiments.
Scientists once simulated the environment on Saturn satellite and the planet Titan. They injected methane and carbon monoxide into test tubes, soaked them in liquid nitrogen at minus 200 degrees, and then energized them to simulate ultraviolet rays. Later, scientists made a surprising discovery: hydrocarbon , an organic substance and the cornerstone of life, actually appeared.
In the middle of the 20th century, scientist Miller also conducted similar experiments. In the experiment, the atmospheric environment on the earth was recreated, mainly including methane, hydrogen, ammonia and water vapor, and the same result was obtained: organic compounds!
For ordinary people, the experimental results will be very shocking, because in many people's inherent thinking, it is difficult for organic compounds to appear naturally, but scientists can create organic compounds through simple experiments, and the experimental The environment easily appears in the vast universe, which shows that life is not rare in the universe, and can even be said to be everywhere.
Lightning appears on many planets, and many scientists firmly believe that lightning is a key point in the formation of primitive life. The environment on the earth today is very beautiful, but the environment on the original earth was very harsh, and a lot of lightning occurred every day.
At the same time, although scientists use earth life (carbon-based life) as the standard to search for alien life, it does not mean that alien life must be carbon-based life .
There are too many celestial bodies and various complex environments in the vast universe. There is no law of nature that stipulates that life forms must be carbon-based life. On some distant planet, there may be life forms beyond our imagination, such as Talk about the legendary silicon-based life .
