Thread: Animals discovered that live without oxygen

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/20...noxic-animals/

Makes me wonder what other forms of life could be out there...

Ugh, I really wanted to read this but the link won't load. I'll be checking back though, because it might be my internet or something?

It works fine for me.

Animals discovered that live without oxygen

Well it's about time.
The game just changed a bit, me thinks.

This is why I don't understand the search for 'earth like planets'. We assume that life requires the specific conditions that lead to our existence, when life most likely springs up in so many varying circumstances that we can hardly even conceive of them all, and it is probably a lot more common than we currently imagine.

I guess the average view of a "life form" on another planet, is that it is something visible by the naked eye. Like ET or something. Wouldn't be expecting life forms like that in gas giants or floating balls of acid.

Originally Posted by Xaqaria

This is why I don't understand the search for 'earth like planets'. We assume that life requires the specific conditions that lead to our existence, when life most likely springs up in so many varying circumstances that we can hardly even conceive of them all, and it is probably a lot more common than we currently imagine.

I agree. And while I understand the logistics of "well, we don't want to invest time and effort into searching for anaerobic life-forms, when all complex life-forms we know of are aerobic", I just find it kind of disappointing that the idea has never really even seemed to be considered, until now.

Anyway, awesome find. I hope this greatly expands the scientific paradigm of "what constitutes life." I'm sure it will. Only time will how much, though.

Originally Posted by Xaqaria

This is why I don't understand the search for 'earth like planets'. We assume that life requires the specific conditions that lead to our existence, when life most likely springs up in so many varying circumstances that we can hardly even conceive of them all, and it is probably a lot more common than we currently imagine.

Maybe, maybe not.

There's a difference between life surviving in an environment and life 'springing up' out of that environment, of course.

Penis worms. PENIS WORMS? Are they serious. Who the hell decided to give them that name. Anyways, cool article.

Damn it, Aqua! You ninja'd me! I was about to make a comment about that to...

But, yeah, cool article

I very much hope I'm not reincarnated as a creature whose sole purpose is to constantly eat mud and to have dick jokes made about it by scientists until it dies.

That all depends on your karma.

I mean, wouldn't that just be ironic?

Not that I would wish that on you either, it is just a funny idea.

I'm wondering if there's some kind of limit to the complexity of anaerobic life forms due to inherent drawbacks in their "design". Maybe it's impossible for them to reach sentient levels. I know that some anaerobic bacteria will outright die in the presence of oxygen, so surface-level anaerobic life on another planet would need an atmosphere devoid of oxygen.

So they don't breathe any kind of gas? No breathing at all?

Don't tell me these aren't similar to dicks:

Attack of the Giant Penis Worms from outer Space and Giant Vagina Clams from Venus!

So nobody knows if these penis worms breathe anything at all?