It's life, Jim, but not as we know it....

[deezelboy]

Does this blow what scientists have been saying about the necessary building blocks for life out of the water? Or did they theorize that something like this could very well exist?

No, it still needs water.  I don't think anybody's theorised a replacement for water as a basis for life, as it's a really bizarre molecule.

This is a highly unusual organism, but it's not a paradigm-smasher.

Hasn't it smashed two though?  The ultimate reliance on sunlight all organisms were thought to have, and its independence of any ecosystem?

[SM]

This is, of course, going to result in the destruction of all mankind.

You all know it.

Pffft... it'll be fine.

Once we've tamed them.

[Neltharion]

Hasn't it smashed two though?  The ultimate reliance on sunlight all organisms were thought to have, and its independence of any ecosystem?

Wasn't it known that Sunlight was not needed for some areas of life before this, according to my Biology teacher (guys insane and knows his stuff, paradox I know) we were discussing organisms that live in areas of zero sunlight. For example the organisms that live inside rocks with no access to sunlight and those "plant" like animals at the bottom of the ocean, having no sunlight at all and produce sulfur rather than Oxygen as a by product of it's respiration.

[deezelboy]

Yeah, you're right.  The tube worms that live around black smokers, and the bacteria that feed them, are pretty independent of sunlight.  Think there's even a species of bacteria that photosynthesises from the phospherent glow of the smoker.

Oh well, smashes one paradigm then!

[Hieronymus]

I imagine the very first ecosystem on Earth would have only a single type of organism, and it would probably have relied on abiotic materials for its nutrients.  So an organism which doesn't rely on an ecosystem would be something we haven't seen before, but it wouldn't invalidate any major theory.

Still, I suppose I should have said that this bug doesn't squash any major dogma.  It doesn't violate any notions about the building blocks of life.

(When I read the first post, it sounded like this thing actually used uranium biochemically.  Now that would be something!)

[SiL]

Pffft... it'll be fine.

Once we've tamed them.

Roll over? Play dead? You can't teach it tricks.

...What's that? You want me to catch the ball?

[Neltharion]

Roll over? Play dead? You can't teach it tricks.

...What's that? You want me to catch the ball?

They will also probably end up exploding from your chest in an eruption of blood and gore.

Think there's even a species of bacteria that photosynthesises from the phospherent glow of the smoker.

Oh how my perception grows of life, its almost scary (kinda get why some people are religious now, but we shall not get into that)

I think the bacteria like species that uses Redox Reactions to create energy is brilliant.

[deezelboy]

(When I read the first post, it sounded like this thing actually used uranium biochemically.  Now that would be something!)

There are a number of organisms that eat uranium (and I guess use it biochemically, depending on your usage of the term),  Citrobacter being the most famous.

But by far the most interesting occurrence is the fossil natural nuclear reactors at Oklo, where micororganisms managed to build uranium piles for purposes unknown...

[Ava]

I wonder what would happen if these babies got used to the life 'outside'. With sunlight and oxygen. What would they turn into. What would happen.
Oh well ... thinking of it ... I maybe dont really wanna know ... 

[Hieronymus]

There are a number of organisms that eat uranium (and I guess use it biochemically, depending on your usage of the term),  Citrobacter being the most famous.

But by far the most interesting occurrence is the fossil natural nuclear reactors at Oklo, where micororganisms managed to build uranium piles for purposes unknown...

It sounds like Citrobacter, at least, is just accumulating the stuff, not really using it.  There are precedents for that sort of thing (zebra mussels accumulating heavy metals), although the mechanism here is quite different.

These Oklo bugs, on the other hand...good God.  The article didn't say whether they could actually use the energy from the reaction, but that's still quite impressive.