What is life, according to NASA?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
- We often think of aliens as space monsters or little green men with laser guns, but what might alien life actually be like?
Here we take a look at NASA's definition of life, and see how it's being used in the exploration of the cosmos, as well as in the chemistry lab as researchers search for the possible pathway from simple chemistry to living cells.
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Biochemist Seven Benner's book is the most comprehensive look at NASA's definition as it applies to space exploration and life origin's chemistry. I highly recommend it!
Life, the Universe, and the Scientific Method: www.amazon.com...
Here is a shorter paper he did on the subject: www.ncbi.nlm.n...
DISSENTING VIEWS ON NASA'S DEFINITION OF LIFE
Scientists and philosophers are a wild bunch of free-thinkers, as such, not everyone jumped on-board when NASA put forth their definition.
From philosopher Edouard Machery: link.springer....
From Life Origin's Chemist, Jack W. Szostak: www.ncbi.nlm.n...
From philosopher Carol E. Cleland and from SETI researcher Christopher F. Chyba: link.springer....
This is by far the best channel about evolution out there
"A gathering of the brightest experts and geniuses at NASA are wrong; here is what _I_ think..."
-The comment section.
Well, in defense of dissenters: There are three papers I showed in this video that were written by lead researchers that also don't like the definition.
Yeah, because it's not the validity of a given argument that matters, but whether its source has wide social recognition. Totally.
: P I'm all in of people having discent and their own ideas, I have some thoughts about this of my own.
But there is something funny about people just trying to out-science the scientists while watching TH-cam in between games of League of Legends.
Probably some genuine will to debate adding in their own insight, but also mixed in with some innocence and even some worrying lack of humility.
Knowing that specialists know and have considerd most of the things we as laymen cassualy think in our spare time and then some, is not an Appeal to Authority fallacy.
Personally, I think there are some flaws in the ways some people define life. That's why people want to leave it up in the air. While NASA's definition of life works for Life As We Know It, but it is entirely possible that life completely alien to how life works on Earth exists. These appear in fiction all the time, and real life scientists have acknowledged the possibility of this as well.
Granted, we've never observed Silicon-based life or sentient fields of energy that can move, reproduce, etc. But if we did, would we call these life?
NASA's definition isn't perfect, but if we find someone that fits the definition of it out in space or on another planet, then we've officially found "Life", for all intents and purposes.
To be fair, everyone's human and I've seen experts in numerous fields getting things wrong, from economists to Stephen Hawking.
I'm French, and my understanding of English language is really not perfect... But I love your channel! ^^
Thanks for your incredible work and for sharing knowledge so clearly. ;)
Les Français sont les pires, tu devrais retourner dans ta terrible pays.
Parle-je francais assez bien? Je vais devoir faire un examen francais demain, alors j'essaye de preparer.
Pardon moi, si vous ne voulez pas m'aider.
Adam Collins You wrong France has contributed a lot to science and it's still the case today they can't be the worst :)
Une personne me suis compris! Je suis vraiment heureux!
This channel dwserves so much more popularity...
Me big boy disappointment
yass
I see you've made a mistkae
Tin Crnkovic Yeah He dwserves it
If it had more videos and didn't confuse everyone with the foreign languages it would.
as a biology teacher, i enjoyed this. brilliantly simple.
3:24 I've seen enough hentai to know where this is going.
Top Weeb look at it shape, it is ready to breed that humie.
Oh wow, you're so original.
Jive Junior you know it
Top Weeb oh fuck yeah see you on furaffinity
Rusty Shackleford
Gross!
Jon, if you keep this up you'll be the toast of NASA in no time.
Did viruses come from pre life or from a miss hap in a early bacteria where a mutation started it off
Some modern viruses might have have a lineage that reaches back to before the cell, but it's unlikely. Most viruses alive today are thought to be genes that have escaped from cells and started their own thing.
I don’t think viruses could have come before bacteria. After all, viruses can’t reproduce on their own, they need cells for that.
Admittedly I’m not an expert.
What a great name 😹😹
Pretty sure they evolved separately and then the virus began to depend on cells to reproduce
Yeah there might of been viruses like those in the RNA hypothesis but probably from bacteria
Welcome back stated clearly, it’s been a while..
Covid 19 needs deep knowledge on life.
You got yourself a new subscriber :)
Surprise Face Reveal wooo!
You deserve way more subs than you currently have!
4 years later and still a valid point.
As an Ambassador for the Okenite Crystal Community, I'd like to object to this video!
pineapplepenumbra Fuck you and those who are from Flat Earth Society!
elvon sarza
The Okenite are a peaceful people and not easily offended, however, we do share your dislike of Flat Earthers. May their feet slip off the rocks and their spikes shatter.
pineapplepenumbra we are the foundation of life empire and your nation is a treats to us we declare war
je suis un chat qui sappelle yoan empire officer
Meeting you is a treats to us, too, however I'm sorry to say, but I don't have the authority to accept your declaration of war.
You'll have to wait until the President gets back from the Holiday of Lorenz, where he no doubt stuffed himself on goosecreekite, this may take a while, so please be patient...
What even is that
We need to know what's alive so we know what to purge.
Why would you want to kill it
I wouldn't want to, just making a 40k joke.
Absolutely fascinating, thank you!
Really there are very few little Green men in actual works of Sci-Fi.
PalaeoJoe That's because we strawmanned the absolute hell out of it, you're welcome! :D
By overuse of example we have eradicated the little green menace~
Alexis Andell now isn’t much better, we usually just have a human bug or something like that
+ PalaeoJoe
"Offended, I am."
- Yoda 34 ABY
PS: 34 ABY is when 'The Force Awakens' and 'The Last Jedi' takes place.
I've seen enough hentai to know the fate of that astronaunt in pic
Honeysmile13 You've come across a terrible fate, haven't you?
Under rated comment
Well... I hope she's wearing her "First Contact" g-string and nipple piercings when the tentacled alien finally rips the evac-suit off her lithe body.
Yeah... I'm a perv.
Shooting ropes? What else could the astronaut's fate? Hmm...
Tla walter?
The efficacy of making the sophisticated issue simpler is the matter of competence and expertises in journalism
Love your vids!! Please upload more often! Been a fan for years
Can you make a video deriding the horribly unrealistic portrayals of aliens in science fiction? The fact that aliens are often made to be humanoid gray beings with cat eyes just rustles my jimmies!
trey the explainer did something on this
I mean tbf it isn't a bad guess. As far as we know a humanoid shape is the optimal shape for an intelligent and technological species, assuming that other species will be similar, while somewhat uninspired, is a pretty good guess.
hedgehog3180 The human form is not at all the most optimal form for intelligent life. Sure it's done the job for us, but to say that it's the most optimal form possible is a self centered argument. Trey the Explainer did a video on this, if I can remember correctly.
I love your voice, it's so amazing.
Thanks John!
As enlighting as always. Keep it up!
Why the reupload?
Found a typo. Proof-reading is for squares, right?
Well if we found strange living black goo on an alien world I think it’d hold a few people captive in a crashed spaceship and drown all who dare approach.
That’s a terrible reference, wasn’t it? No one will get it...
+Psychic Hedgehog - are you talking about Armus from next generation?
Stated Clearly yup!
The Black goo from Prometheus?
Of course not Number One!
Life reference... Thats a good one 😉
I really don't get the cells part. It seems a bit earth centric
chistine lane Cells are the fundamental structural and functional unit of life. Just like chemistry can occur at the level of atoms, Biology occurs at the level of the cells, because the cell is the smallest thing that can be considered living.
There's no better configuration for building organisms than cells.
as far as we know, i guess
But the actuall definition by NASA doesn't say anything about cells. That was just part of earth-biologist's possible criteria for life.
Ever heard of "Life as we know it"?
It means, "the definition of life so far".
So far all life we discover and confirmed is here on earth.
This channel deserve more attention.
Although defining life might not be easy, but distinguishing it is so easy for everyone.
Not always. For example, if it were so easy, we wouldn't have had long debates if viruses are alive. Or going by that NASA definition, individual genes are alive - would you have thought so before?
Even if one chooses to be doubtful about these 2 cases, still compared to the cases that we can all agree about whether they are alive or not (which includes the remaining of all the beings in the universe that we are aware of at the moment), with a high approximation we can still say that we almost always agree about what is alive and what is not.
And about viruses, I personally think that they are alive.
@@a000ab Yeah, that's the thing about definitions. They need to work in all cases, not just the easy ones. And I suspect if I went looking, I could find more such cases.
Wow, so much content in less than 10 mins. Another gem found. Subscribed.😁😁
What if fire is alive?
Notkoi
*hits blunt*
Yeah man, what if fire has emotions?
Run.
Did you watch the video? Doesn't fit the description
TheDubstepAddict
~~Woooosh~~
As per definition, it's not
I like entertainment videos on TH-cam but I mainly only subscribe to educational ones like your , your content is very important to humanity, thank you very much
I love the topic - Genetics, and also your Animations !!
The best video I've seen on TH-cam.
Amazing Channel!
I could almost hear the creationists' screams of anguish as you dropped *that* definition.
Titantr0n That's just the sound of Dawkins fanboys masturbating, over the pedestralization of their favourite pseudoscience.
Titantr0n noth are you are immature calling each other names on things with no purpose what if there is not god it doesn’t matter and same if he exist will never know but evolution does exist and so did the Big Bang it’s a fact but it’s more primitive to argue and fight then to believe in a creator
Oh my, well thank you kind netizens for the lesson in civism!! Everyone saw just how nice people you are, congratulations :) But, at the risk of disappointing you, I'll keep on telling off retards that shit all over reason and science in the name of their genocidal god as much as I want. I'm that terrible.
Actually, as an evolutionary creationist, I'm quite alright with it.
@@skullbatch2054
You said if "he" exists well never know well then how do you know that this god has a biological sex? And who is "he" mating with? I mean, aside from underaged Hebrew virgins.
awsome, as always
Absolutely fell in love with your video! Great job! :3
YOU'RE FINALLY BACK??
Hi! A few years ago, while discussing with a fellow virologist, we came out with a very straightforward three-entry list to determine if something is alive or not, it is called the "L2 list". At the beginning, nobody liked it because it excludes viruses as living organisms, but with time, several colleagues started using it in their biology seminars and courses at the university where i used to work. The L2 list: 1. Boundaries. The "organism" must posses clear physical boundaries separating it from the environment and/or delimiting its internal processes. 2. Genetics. The "organism" must posses a way to store, read and inherit information for its growth, development, and functioning. 3. Homeostasis. The "organism" must posses a path for the use of energy in order to maintain a chemical and physical equilibrium, gradient o balance within its boundaries and/or its immediate environment. If the "organism" fails in any of these three entries, it is not considered alive.
That's more or less what's in every elementary school text book.
Viruses disagree with you.
What if their are *Different* types of life , Life A cellular life. and B life, now n cellular reproduces and no matabolism, this is an example of viruses.
this is an interesting comment
Animation is great!!👍and your videos are just perfect!! You should post more often!!😄😄
The most alien looking aliens I've seen in any kind of fiction so far are the Combine Advisers from Half Life.
Your animation quality is so goooood i love ur videos
I think NASA is doing it wrong, because they only look in places close to the Goldilocks zone, or places in the Goldilocks zone, but what they don't think of is the fact that life adapts to their environment. Here is an example; it is possible for an animal to live in a volcano, as long as it has all the needed properties.
RileyPlaysGames nah thats bs
Well everyone has got their own opinions
I’m pretty sure nasa is looking there not just for life but for a new earth
No not really
We aren't really looking for life outside our Solar system right now. We're just looking for planets that could potentially support life. When it comes to that we don't really have anything to base our search on other than Earth. At the current time we don't really have the technology to spot life or even signs of life outside of our solar system.
Wow that was amazing I instantly subscribed
Keep up with all of that good work my dude!!!!
Wow I actually learned something. Great video!
Dope. This channel is dope.
Excellent work as always
3:58 Is that a Miller-Urey experiment I see?
you are on the international space station, and your comrade Johnson has finished checkup on the ship and you promptly let him inside. not too long after, Johnson tells you he is finished with checkup and needs you to open up the airlock, despite the fact he is sitting right next to you.
Dude that’s scary shit....
this is a fantastic channel.
U mentioned that viruses are not considered alive by some biologists. I’m curious, do viruses share the same origin as all life on Earth? Are we related to viruses?
Self-sustaining chemical systems capable of Darwinian evolution are life
Yoo make more of these videos , they're great!
Of course aliens exist we cant have all of the universes by ourselves, but we just dont know it yet
ErickuZ not necessarily. There is no way to know if aliens exist. Lets say that its IMPOSSIBLE for us to be alone. Who says that life has cropped up yet? It might be about to form!
FGV Cosmic but how could we be the only things in the whole galaxy i really think there is people like us thinking about the same thing that aliens do exist
+FGV Cosmic It can be forming in many planets and developed on many others. Anyway, because of the size of the universe and the speed of light it's hard to seek for it far away. Aliens maybe can't see us because of relativity, if they can observe planets and stuff, we could be dinosaurs or even bacterias for them, time is not equal (I dont know how to explain)
FGV Cosmic there’s a lot of factors- life could have not started yet on other planets, and even if it did, it might not be in our lifetimes, also, space is infinite and never ending so who’s to say it will happen near us with our current technology? It could be some galaxy 10 trillion light years away, but obviously we do not have the technology to travel that far.... yet, at least maybe not in our lifetime
FGV Cosmic let me give an example and let's look at mass effect, very complex life such as humans 1/3 animals 2/3 microbes 3/3 this number could be the chances of finding life in are Galaxy , advance life would have issues finding other advanced life but finding animals would be easier and micro organisms would be the easiest to find, some star systems probably wouldn't have any known life at all you just gotta keep looking, the chances of finding an advanced race would go up based on technology and exploration
What's the meaning of life? Capable of Darwinian evolution. Done. I like it. It's a simple answer to a complex question. Kind of like 42.
That’s not a meaning, it’s a definition. Life is what you make of it
Meaning and definition are synonyms. I get it, the meaning of life and the definition of life are two different questions but the 42 joke doesn't work with "What's the definition of life?". It's a slight equivocation for the sake of wit.
Fantastic video, if a may suggest something then it would have to be a video about the difference between exobiology and xenobiology.
From my understanding exobilology is the study of the poessibility of life outside our solarsystem (as stated in the video) while xenobilogy is the study of how life outside our solarsystem might look like, but I'm not at all sure. :)
so would fallout 4's gen 3 synths be considered "alive" by nasa's definition?
PMMillard Windowlicker They don't reproduce, so no.
I am no pro about them but do they grow?
PMMillard Windowlicker fallout 4 gen 3 synths are sentient, but they do not age or have the capability to reproduce.
I love this channel. I wish you did more videos.
7:00
A very good visual depiction of natural selection. I'm keeping that one in mind (it's easier to explain than f'ing zebras)
How to spot an Alien:
1. You can't!
We don't even know if Aliens Exist or not, even if they do we don't what they look like.
Coo1 Gam3r well anything that isn’t on earth and is living is an alien
+Nothing Matters I don't understand what you mean... I meant that an alien is something not from OUR planet so if theirs a "copy" in a parallel universe and they somehow can come into ours then they would be "aliens" also humans are too stupid and greedy to even advance that far.
Among an enormous universe that is infinitely expanding containing trillions of galaxies with billions of solar systems and each system containing a varied amount of planets you say that it’s likely that One planet among such qualities is habitable, I don’t think so either. How ever it may be true that Life forms not on Earth may not exist or be able to contact Earth in only a million years we’d be sentient because to the universe, a million of years doesn’t really matter in comparison to other quantities of time.
You guys need to make more videos 👏🏼
The NASA definition: It’s life, Jim as we know it.
I really like this definition. It helps explain some mitochondrial diseases as conflicts of interest between the mitochondria and host DNA.
...I feel like I've heard that intro, or its melody, somewhere before. In a game maybe?
Feng Lengshun sounds like doki doki literature club
The tone sounds like it came from No Time For Caution or 60 Seconds.
The sphuirs i think should be cald parshal life becouse it unarably life like but not unless something strange changes it can have mutations so i think it shoukd ve classified as parshal life they are almost alive things but not quite i think that should be what its called instead of not alive.
I have a question. Why "capable of"? Why not experiencing? Or subject to? Or in the process of?
Thank you for creating another excellent video
The organism would only evolve if it needed to in order to survive, typically because of changes to it's environment. No changes, no need to adapt.
@@Beerbatter1962 this is incorrect. Organisms change over time, regardless. Common misconception.
@mr.zafner8295 on earth they do because of DNA mutations. But nothing says elsewhere in the universe that DNA is the only molecule that can carry genetic information. Or that mutations without environmental pressure are a necessary requirement or consequence. I think it's a more common misconception to assume life elsewhere needs to even be remotely similar to that on earth.
Thank you.
I like the most-complexity dynamic, which, in a telepathic, post-Higgs mind environment, is like saying evolution's complexity is intrinsically extra-dimensional in mind, not merely in genetic form. In community of mind, that would be deeper, like a shared cluster of stars extra-gravitic, nearly immediate overlaps in consciousness. That would be when, among many minds, space-time is alternately cycled far out, almost inside out, across nearly immediate, back-and-forth resonating time-space, i.e. across a galaxy. The whole universe loves such communications, artful, colorful, often musical.
by that definition.. wouldn't Learning A.I.'s be alive?
(by which I mean, current Learning A.I. not future or fictional Sentient A.I.)
It needs our electricity though. So it isn’t self sustaining.
Darkil2 holy shit
TheBigChicken well it could learn to make electrify but I don’t think it would ever be alive with nasas definition
TheBigChicken couldnt you consider the computer its environment
Darwinian evolution would mean biological. Computers are artificial
Perhaps a better definition: a system that can be distinguished from its environment that utilizes complex molecules to change the environment and is constantly changing within the environment.
Microspheres my well have provided the first environment for the accumulation and evolution of other microorganisms.
One should also consider that "life" might take the form of non-carbon based organisms. I wouldn't be surprised if a silicon and germanium based entity existed that had a similar nervous system to Earthbound life.
You should consider that life might be meaningless distinction and there is no clear border between life and non living matter
Awesome
5:09 that satellite looks like a beer can with wings.
Very nice!!
Trumps hair is an Alien
>Is it alive?
>Is it found on earth?
Antibiology: The study of death.
My personal definition of life:
A self sustaining system with a protective cover.
The protective cover is to make a difference between self sustaining chemical reactions (like fire) and between life.
The „self sustaining“ is in because it is the most important trait of living beings which guarantees its survival.
„Reproduction“ is not in because a single cellular organism which can’t reproduce because of a mutation wouldn’t be automatically death.
And if this cell can’t reproduce it would also mean that it is not capable of darwinian evolution and therefore I also wouldn’t use evolution as a criteria.
It is not necessary for every individual organism to be capable of reproduction (a mule is alive), just for Darwinian evolution to present in a representative sample of a population.
My little girl and I hope you have more vids coming soon.
Ok but is a fertilized human egg alive?
Yes, but it's still a part of the mother. The unfertilized eggs that are discarded once a month are alive to, so are you proposing that we force women to stop having their periods? The sperm are alive too, so when you get off to your tentacle hentai you end up killing millions, even just existing your cells die and are replaced very often, sometimes daily
If an environment doesn't change, Darwinian requirement and reproduction requirement should be omitted, in my opinion. A form of life could have evolved long time ago to fit the unchanging environment. Then, the need to reproduce and change would decay.
even near-optimal organisms experience random genetic drift based in reproductive selection or on inconsequention traits. this is a form of darwinian evolution, despite not being useful in a usual sense
The environment includes other organisms within the environment. Even if the non-biological environment remained static one could expect predator and prey species to change and compete with one another. Species that compete for the same energy source would undergo natural selection as one species becomes better at acquiring that energy at the expense of the other. Even simply by taking up space one species could be selected ahead of another just by being better at reproducing.
Perhaps what really matters is 'the potential to evolve' or in the definitions case, the important part is 'capable'. Even if it is not currently evolving, that does not mean it is not 'capable'.
Earth has actually been pretty static since life arose on it, life just changed it.
Ivan unchanging environments are 1, impossible and 2, animals still would change.
Even ‘living fossils’ change. Look at ancient coelacanth fossils and look at modern ones.
The only thing that bothers me is the evolution part. If there was an animal that stopped evolving and ever version of the animal after that point was somehow a clone, it wouldn't be considered alive anymore.
1960: I bet they will have flying cars in future
2017:How to spot an alien
I still think the Mars LR experiment showed potential signs of life, but since the other 2 experiments were inherently flawed (both have now been replicated on Earth w/ microorganism positive material but still came back w/ no sign of life in multiple experiments) due to a lack of instrument sensitivity.
I hope NASA decides to replicate more precise versions of these experiments on Mars one day within our lifetimes, but the most interesting work right now IMO is that of Professor Milton Wainwright.
I wonder what happens when you take the "Chemical" part of that Nasa definition, and replace it with another arguably applicable term.
Arguably a program is capable of being self-sustaining, and capable of darwinian evolution; but that already has its own term (A-Life, or "artificial" life)
What about A.I.? Even if/when we create it ourselves, there will be debate as to whether it is truly alive.
Although u could think that those sqtheres where pre life, as if there where protein stutures that did something like that
If you feel intense irrational terror when looking at a skinny gut with big eyes, it's an alien. Our natural reaction to the truly alien is terror.
Does this mean that mules aren’t alive, since they can’t reproduce?
Finally, NASA did something that is useful to ALL of us.
Good stuff
ARGRGGGGG! This makes me want to go to some other planet similar to Earth and just collect every single plant and thing I could find.
So is Data from Star Trek TNG alive, according to NASA’s definition?
With the Viking landers, it was the test experiment that couldn't verify the result initially produced by the main life-searching experiments. But the test experiment wasn't capable of performing the verification to as high a degree of detail of measurement as was the main experiments with each their greater focus on a narrower perspective. This is the inconsistency that has led us to believe that part of the mission to have been unsuccesfull. It is as Carl Sagan commented on it: Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidense.
Scientist: hey! A rock
Scientist: is it alive?
What is life?
Baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more
This made my day. 😹
So I'm watching this and a coworker walks up and says " I think it's funny that all these scientist are looking for life on other planets, but don't even know their neighbors first name" lol
PeaceIsBoring that the reason they finding alien...to substitue their neighbour as friends