From: rsw@therandymon.com   
      
   On 2016-10-08, Hils  wrote:   
   > "A bizarre microbe found deep in a gold mine in South Africa could   
   > provide a model for how life might survive in seemingly uninhabitable   
   > environments through the cosmos. Known as Desulforudis audaxviator, the   
   > rod-shaped bacterium thrives 2.8 kilometers underground in a habitat   
   > devoid of the things that power the vast majority of life on   
   > Earth—light, oxygen, and carbon. Instead, this “gold mine bug” gets   
   > energy from radioactive uranium in the depths of the mine. Now,   
   > scientists predict that life elsewhere in the universe might also feed   
   > off of radiation, especially radiation raining down from space."   
      
   Interesting.  Imagine finding our species' biology and ecology are   
   actually a statistical outlier, and our search for life elsewhere was   
   biased by notions of what life must 'require' that turn out to   
   ultimately, biased.   
      
   There's almost certainly a good scifi book out there that takes this   
   theme on.  Hope someone can recommend it.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)