Dirk Schulze-Makuch

Special #Biology #Blog on BigThink on 5 Types of #Science #Fiction #Aliens and the Likelihood that they Actually Exist: Link through my website Search for Life in the Universe: searchforlifeintheuniverse.com/post/5-sci-fi-… or go directly to Big Think !

How a scientific mistake derailed Mars exploration for 50 years. What if Viking actually did discover life on Mars ? See blog with our link to eLetter in Science at (all blogs with link also on my website searchforlifeintheuniverse.com) : bigthink.com/hard-science/h…

New blog on what all the detections of #organics on #Mars really mean. Posted on BigThink (with Link on SearchforlifeintheUniverse): bigthink.com/hard-science/b… #planet #life #space #writerscommunity #astrobiology #science

The question of what is #life and its #definition: still way more questions than answers. See my blog on this topic on BigThink bigthink.com/hard-science/w… #astrobiology, #space, #science, #planets, #WritingCommunity, #extraterrestrial

#Ceres - the forgotten #ocean world. Its all frozen now, but we still could find remnants of early #life on this dwarf #planet within the #asteroid belt bigthink.com/hard-science/c… #astrobiology #space #universe #habitat #WritingCommunity #science #discovery

@DanEBengtson Thanks ! Will look for it !

@extreme_microbe Hi Dirk! My book's title is CRYOPANSPERMIA THE PETRI DISH & PLANET EARTH, published by Amazon. I wrote it for the general public. In it you will find several out of the box hypothesis that fit together quite well. Hope you enjoy it!

When and where did #life begin? New #research shows that time is even shorter than we thought, triggering thought provoking questions ! bigthink.com/hard-science/n… #panspermia #Mars #Earth #origin #impact #astrobiology #space #science

@DanEBengtson Dear Daniel, where is your book published and what is its title? Of course, what you are saying cannot be excluded as possibility, but what would your suggested location make so special that is not there on early Earth? Best, Dirk

@extreme_microbe The hypothesis I explain in my book is that life came from a FORMER star system that was located aproximately in the same place as ours in the Milky Way. It had salt water worlds that were destroyed by a supernova and the remains of them can be found today in the Oort Cloud.

The new Vera Rubin observatory will make a big difference in the chance of detecting #technosignatures, signs of #alien #technology. Its a new blog by Tony Reichhardt and myself on BigThink. bigthink.com/hard-science/a… #astrobiology #space #universe

SciAm article about our research scientificamerican.com/article/to-fin… @extreme_microbe

Re-design and new updates with latest #blogs and #papers (for example 2 x in #Nature #Astronomy in 2024 on #Mars #Viking #experiments and #Fermi #Paradox) on my website: searchforlifeintheuniverse.com

Microbial motility as an amazingly simple #biosignature to detect #life on #Mars and elsewhere (and dangerous #pathogenic #bacteria on Earth). Posted on BigThink with Link at searchforlifeintheuniverse.com/post/a-promisi…

The Dark Side of #Alien #Contact - fitting to #Hallloween: bigthink.com/thinking/if-al… #astrobiology #space #planet #life #universe #writerscommunity #savage #science #sciencefiction

#ICYMI: buff.ly/3NyhYbg This week, there's a bonus #SETILive! @allplanets discussed @extreme_microbe's recent @NatureAstronomy article about how we should follow the salts🧂 instead of the water💧 when looking for life on #Mars🔴.

@DanEBengtson yeah, that would work as well

@extreme_microbe I mean totally frozen forms of life in a cryptobiotic situation, they where alive before in liquid water and could return to that state if the temperature arises.

We may be looking for #life on #Mars in the wrong places. The Viking life detection experiments might have inadvertently killed indigenous Martian life by applying too much water. We should follow the salt ! See my blog with link to Nature Astronomy paper: bigthink.com/hard-science/f…

@BrianCoryDobbs e.g. Mancinelli, R.L. (1989). Adv. Space Res. 9, 191–195., 25-250 ppm of H2O2 on the Mars surface. H2O2 in the organisms or the soil could explain the CO2 release in the Viking GCMS as could perchlorates. Steven talks about LR, and the interpretation of that is more complicated

@extreme_microbe Where can you cite that there is H2O2 on Mars? And according to Steven Benner, neither perchlorates nor peroxides would have produced the result the LR experiment demonstrated. You can read his blog here. primordialscoop.org/2023/11/13/why… Or our interview... youtube.com/watch?v=yQJ5bM…

@BrianCoryDobbs There is H2O2 on Mars, the question is only if putative microbes use it. The CO2 released when baking Martian soil in the Viking GCMS could point to it (or perchlorates?) - when heated, both compounds become unstable and the organics in the sample would be oxidized to CO2

@extreme_microbe Are you saying there is hydrogen peroxide on Mars?

@DanEBengtson Only if there is the salt that reduces the freezing points and you have little island of molten ice/liquid water

@extreme_microbe I would also follow the ice to try to find frozen forms of life. There is plenty superficial water ice in places as for example the Korolev crater.

@BrianCoryDobbs Please read the paper. Through hyperhydration. At some point, the putative microbes couldn´t cope with it anymore. Also, please check out cambridge.org/core/journals/…

@extreme_microbe The Viking life tests detected microbial metabolism. How is that killing?