Saturn's moon Titan is one of the most interesting places in the solar system for planetary scientists. That's because it has a thick atmosphere, mountains, rivers and seas (of liquid methane). The big difference between here and there is temperature, Titan's average surface temperature is a chilly -179 C.
That suggests that life must be impossible there.
... or maybe on second thought, that's not true.
Here's an interesting report:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/articl...rbor-life/
that centers around a hydrocarbon called acrylonitrile that's known to exist on Titan.
Investigators at Cornell have discovered that acrylonitrile can form membranes with characteristics very similar to cell (and nuclear and mitochondrial) membranes on Earth. What's more, computer simulations suggest that these membranes will form into hollow balls (the investigators call them azotosomes).
That suggests that life must be impossible there.
... or maybe on second thought, that's not true.
Here's an interesting report:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/articl...rbor-life/
that centers around a hydrocarbon called acrylonitrile that's known to exist on Titan.
Investigators at Cornell have discovered that acrylonitrile can form membranes with characteristics very similar to cell (and nuclear and mitochondrial) membranes on Earth. What's more, computer simulations suggest that these membranes will form into hollow balls (the investigators call them azotosomes).