From: mightyhugh@yahoo.co.uk   
      
   On 14 Jul 2004 16:51:33 -0400, jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll)   
   wrote:   
      
   >In article <40f5377b.12408047@news.btopenworld.com>,   
   >Hugh  wrote:   
   >>   
   >>If life is present on Titan, it must be completely different from life   
   >>as we know it. Titan is so cold that water ice is a quartzlike mineral   
   >>there, it certainly couldn’t play an active role in any biological   
   >>processes.   
   >   
   >	I nitpick only to be polite: water can't exist as a liquid on   
   >the surface of Titan, but what about underground, in a subtitanian   
   >liquid water zone analogous to Ganymede's hypothetical ocean? Am I   
   >remembering correctly that a water-ammonia mix can have a melting   
   >point as cold as 175ish K?   
      
   You're absolutely right, I'd forgotten that ammonia can greatly reduce   
   the freezing point of water. There could well be a substantial   
   water/ammonia ocean beneath Titan's surface, so there could be   
   subterranean water-based life on Titan. I still like the idea of   
   hydrocarbon-based life in Titan's methane oceans though :-)   
      
      
   Hugh   
      
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