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Scientists Discover 'Alien World' that Upends Understanding of Life

Scientists Discover 'Alien World' that Upends Understanding of Life

By Nares LapoiyaPublished 2 years ago β€’ 5 min read
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Could alien life exist? This question has been explored for many years. Before we used telescopes or probes to explore other planets, many people would have assumed that alien life and alien civilizations were common, because we didn't know much about those planets. A very simple example, we humans have thought that recently more than 55 million kilometers from earth, as far as 400 million kilometers of the Mars may be in like the earth's ecosystems, until July 1965, the first successful over Mars probe "mariner 4," returned the first a picture on the surface of Mars, stunned the scientific community. That's because the images from the probe show Mars as a cratered, lifeless world, devoid of life and unlikely to support an intelligent civilization like Earth.

Mars is another earth-like planet in the habitable zone in addition to the Earth in the solar system. It has many similarities with the Earth and has many habitable conditions. It is considered as a potential planet for life, but our human beings have not found alien life on Mars until now. Is it true that there is only life on earth and intelligent civilization on Earth in the universe?

This seems unreasonable, because in the vast depths of the universe, there are numerous planets like the Earth and planets with more superior environment than Mars. Even if we haven't found alien life and civilization on Mars, it doesn't mean that there are no alien life and civilization in the universe. Just like we don't find frogs in the pool outside our house, we can't directly conclude that there are no frogs on earth. In addition, our understanding of life may be relatively one-sided, because we have only found life on Earth, so when looking for habitable planets, alien life, will refer to the Earth, such as whether there is liquid water, whether there is an atmosphere, etc. But scientists are making some discoveries that could upend our understanding of life, because some creatures are so hardy that they may not need sunlight to survive.

'Alien world' found in 5.5-million-year-old cave

Just a few kilometers from the shore of the Black Sea, there is a mysterious Cave known as Movile Cave. The mysterious cave had not been discovered until 1986, when scientists were searching for a site to build a nuclear power plant. Scientists have confirmed that the cave was formed about 5.5 million years ago.

What are the secrets of this cave, isolated for millions of years? Is it as dead inside as Mars without sunlight? To uncover the truth about what's going on inside the cave, scientists went deep inside, and what they found inside the cave, it turned our understanding of life on its head.

Entering the mysterious cave is not easy either. Scientists need to drill down to a depth of about 20 meters and then pass through a narrow tunnel to reach a larger cave containing a small lake. It's not surprising to find a lake in a cave, because there are various kinds of caves in the interior of many caves, and it's surprising that there are some very hardy creatures living in this cave.

Not only is there no sunlight in the 5.5-million-year-old cave, the environment is harsh, with about half as much oxygen in the air as there is outside and 100 times as much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In addition, the air is also filled with some highly toxic gases, such as phosphine. Obviously, we wouldn't be able to survive in these conditions, and not just us, but many other creatures, but scientists have found 48 species of life in this cave, and 33 of them are unique to this cave, that is, not found anywhere else.

This is strange. In theory, considering the situation of the earth's ecosystem, the energy of countless species, including us, actually comes from the sun. Plants provide the means of photosynthesis to convert the sun's energy into oxygen and organic matter, and then this energy flows through the food chain to the animals all the way to the top of the food chain. There's no sunlight in this cave, no outside energy, so where do these creatures get their energy from?

Scientists believe that in some caves, where the sun doesn't shine, nutrients flow in from the outside, via groundwater or other means, bringing nutrients to life inside. However, the surface of the mysterious Merville Cave is completely impermeable, meaning there is no way for energy to enter.

Although there is no water flow, but the scientists found a lot in the cave to sulfide into sulfuric acid, put into ammonia nitrate bacteria, these bacteria to make energy, there are also some bacteria can directly obtain energy from the methane and other gases, then through the food chain to more advanced creatures, such as spiders, scorpions, leeches, etc. Because there is no sunlight in the cave, these creatures have lost their sight.

Could alien life exist?

That's amazing. If earth's sunless caves could contain unknown organisms, there could theoretically be other planets with similar environments, such as Europa and Titan. Many believe that Europa's subglacial oceans could harbor fish-like creatures, while Titan could harbor methane-eating creatures. If so, alien life and civilizations could be common.

Because there are so many planets like Earth, Europa and Titan in the vast depths of space. Moreover, the age of the universe has been up to more than 13 billion years, there is enough time to develop alien life, alien civilization, if we only refer to the living conditions of the earth to search for alien life, alien civilization, may be very one-sided.

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