[ExI] Life "in Outer Space" (re:Dawn!)

[Bret Kulakovich]

I think this is very exciting, and have posted it to my site. Here  
are the links to the fungus related article (currently appearing on  
slashdot and elsewhere) and some graphs on IRAS asteroid albedo that  
I am correlating it to:

Ionizing Radiation Changes the Electronic Properties of Melanin and  
Enhances the Growth of Melanized Fungi
http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info% 
3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0000457

Asteroid albedos: graphs of data
http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/astro/astalbedo.html

Sure it's a bit speculative, but perhaps with a mission like DAWN,  
we'll be all the wiser shortly. What maturity could our species gain  
through such a discovery!


--

The Potential for Fungal Life in the Asteroid Belt
May 24th, 2007

Something I push on now and then is the literal interpretation of the  
1950’s “Life in Outer Space” Here I’d like to drop a note about  
recent findings about (dark, dusty) fungus, and correlate them to the  
specific albedos (measurment of shiny or dull) of asteroids.

Certain asteroids are very dark and dusty. Certain fungi that greatly  
enjoy high levels of radiation are very dark and dusy. Given that the  
high melanin levels make the fungus even darker, I think we could  
soon stop saying “soot” and start saying “life”.

Ionizing Radiation Changes the Electronic Properties of Melanin and  
Enhances the Growth of Melanized Fungi

Asteroid albedos: graphs of data (from IRAS)

Be sure to note the density of ~3AU that is beneath .2e ! I will  
update this post as time permits.

I would like to further add: the second graph, starting just over 2  
astronomical units, and going to just past 3, could be indicative of  
preferential advantage gaining activity based on asteroid  
composition, factors such as pH or specific mineral content. I’m not  
saying predation, just preferencial activity.

---

Bret

www.bretorium.com




On May 18, 2007, at 1:32 PM, Amara Graps wrote:

> http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm?cat=173
>
> Photos of the initial processing of the spacecraft for the launch  
> (~June 30)
>
> Amara
> -- 
>
> Amara Graps, PhD      www.amara.com
> INAF Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI), Roma,  
> ITALIA
> Associate Research Scientist, Planetary Science Institute (PSI),  
> Tucson
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