Horizon: Oceans of the Solar System

This documentary showed how scientists looked for life on other planets by searching for mass amounts of water such as lakes and oceans. That is because all life on Earth started out in the ocean, it is the origin of life. Scientists are look for a second tree of life, organisms that are clearly not related to any life form on Earth - something that we do not have a common ancestor with. 

The part of the documentary I want to focus on is the study of Saturn's moon, Titan. In 2005 a probe took pictures of Titan and discovered that its surface was unexpectedly earth like. It had huge lakes, not made of water but made of methane. The moon is -180 degree C, making it far too cold for any life form with an Earth like chemistry. 

Scientists at Cornell University are researching into whether a methane based life is possible. They took the chemical ingredients that exist on Titan and mixed them up inside a computer. The computer was able to build a membrane, one that functions in methane, not water. This is ground breaking as it is possible for there to be a second tree of like that functions completely differently than any animal on Earth. 

“We tend to think that life would look like us. You just have to look at the star trek movies, all the aliens kind of look like insects and things that we already know. But why not be something completely different? Something that we cannot imagine but something perfectly suited to the conditions that are on Titan.” Prof. Paulette Clancy  

My three creatures have been designed to function in the only way I know how, through water and oxygen etc. Because of this, they are most likely to live on an Earth like planet such as Kepler 186F or even Earth itself. If I was to continue on with this project, I would research into how creatures from a second tree of life would look like, behave, think and exist. Surviving on methane and hydrogen rather than water and oxygen etc. This would require a huge amount of research into these chemical compounds so I could understand them and how it could affect a creature.  

Overall, I have learnt a huge amount during this project and I excited to further my studies on animals and creature designs in my personal time after uni.