Intriguing 'autocatalytic' reactions appear to be far more common than scientists had thought.

Alien life may not be carbon-based, new study suggests::Self-sustaining chemical reactions that could support biology radically different from life as we know it might exist on many different planets, a new study finds.

  • @NAXLABEnglish
    42•1 year ago

    1. You can eat them if they have the nutrients you need. Non-carbon-based just means it won’t use carbon as the foundation of its molecular and cellular workings. By mass, there’s relatively little carbon in living organisms and on earth, so whatever’s out there could still use carbon and other elements enough that it has something we could eat. There’s barely any telling what kinds of chemicals will be found in an organism like that, but it could easily be a mix of things we can digest and things we can’t. Even carbon-based life is like that. Wood for example is biologically very similar to us, but is mainly made of cellulose, which we can’t really digest at all.

    2. yes, if it fits.

    • @SmoothLiquidationEnglish
      14•1 year ago

      By mass, there’s relatively little carbon in living organisms and on earth

      Some quick googling tells me about 60% of our body is water, and of what is left, almost half is carbon. This would include all of the fats, carbohydrates and sugars that we need for energy.

      If you ate a non-carbon based lifeform, you might get some water or iron and other minerals you need a little of in your diet, but the reason we need to eat so much is to ingest different forms of carbon to digest.

      An alien that died on earth would probably not even rot because our food chain is so dependent on our proteins.

      • Ready! Player 31English
        3•1 year ago

        An alien that died on earth would probably not even rot because our food chain is so dependent on our proteins.

        That is a super interesting idea. Presumably it would bring it’s own bacteria though?

        • @ForgotAboutDreEnglish
          6•1 year ago

          Bacteria that breaks down life forms might not be necessary for life. The ancient Forrest’s that became oil deposits didn’t have bacteria to break them down. This caused them to become oil. It’s why there won’t be any new oil (naturally occuring).