The black tech madman who saves the world

Chapter 291 Europa ([-])
"I'm not afraid of your jokes, this is the first time I've heard the word Europa." Sun Zhongyong said with a smile.

"However, the planet Europa really has the possibility of life? Didn't you say that it is a very cold ice ball?"

In the past few days, the Mars base has been quite lively.

The news that Chen Mengchuan and others decided to prepare the spacecraft to go to Europa quickly spread throughout the Mars base.

"Europa is indeed a planet where life may exist, but the specific form of life can only be known after arriving at Europa for field detection. The most likely possibility is the existence of some extremophile creatures." Chen Mengchuan replied to Sun Zhongyong's words.

The planet Europa can be regarded as a relatively special planet. Its living environment may be similar to the deep-sea hot springs on the earth or the Vostok Lake in Antarctica. If there is life, its life form may be similar to that of the earth. Some extremophiles on Earth are similar.

Extremophiles are organisms that can grow and reproduce in extreme environments, usually single-celled organisms.The extreme environments here, by definition anthropocentric, are normal to the creatures themselves.That is to say, strictly speaking, these "extreme environments" are places where some organisms can live, regardless of whether humans think these places are ordinary or extreme.

To give an example, humans can be classified as mesophilic aerobic organisms.

Ordinary people don't have a deep understanding of this type of creature, so it's normal for Sun Zhongyong not to understand it.Even Chen Mengchuan himself doesn't know much about this kind of creatures and this kind of extreme environment.

"Extreme-loving creatures? Do such creatures really exist?" Sun Zhongyong was obviously very unfamiliar with these.

Chen Mengchuan smiled, raised his hand and smiled at a tanned middle-aged man beside him, and said, "If you want to ask this question, you should ask Dr. Li."

Dr. Li Xiaosong, with short hair and short cut, wears glasses with fixed straps. His not tall body looks very thin, and his smile looks very shy.

"There is such a life form." Li Xiaosong said.

"Most life forms on earth exist, and they can be classified into the discipline of aerobic organisms. Humans, birds, fish, and most fungi are aerobic organisms. Aerobic organisms are chemical reactions that utilize oxygen to break down sugars and fats and obtain energy from them to support the existence of life forms."

"The opposite of aerobic organisms is anaerobic organisms. We usually refer to some organisms that do not require oxygen to grow. In fact, there are not many of them. It can be roughly divided into three types, obligate anaerobic organisms, facultative anaerobic organisms organisms and aerobic and anaerobic organisms."

"The professional knowledge in this area is relatively deep." Li Xiaosong said and stopped.

"Dr. Li, let's talk about it. In fact, we basically don't know much about these things." Chen Mengchuan smiled. He knew the reason why Li Xiaosong stopped. A lot of professional knowledge is very unpopular, so it may not be interesting.

Li Xiaosong hesitated for a while, and after considering his language, he spoke again: "Then I will briefly introduce it."

"I just said that anaerobic organisms are generally divided into three categories. One is obligate anaerobic organisms. Obligate anaerobic organisms are more extreme. If exposed to an oxygen environment, many anaerobic organisms will die quickly. Obligate anaerobic organisms Anaerobic organisms mostly survive by fermentation or anaerobic respiration. Once in contact with air or oxygen on the surface of objects, obligate anaerobic organisms will lack superoxide dismutase and catalase. These enzymes It helps remove deadly superoxide in the cells of obligate anaerobes. A few survive, but most die quickly."

"There are many obligate anaerobic bacteria among some fungi, such as actinomycetes, clostridium, Escherichia coli, fusobacterium, peptostreptococcus, etc."

"Facultative anaerobes and aerobic anaerobes are organisms that can survive in both aerobic and anaerobic environments. The difference is that aerobic anaerobes do not use oxygen as the final electron acceptor. This is a comparison. Unpopular knowledge, speaking of it will involve a lot of professional knowledge points, so I won’t go into details.”

Li Xiaosong's words were very common, and Sun Zhongyong basically understood them.

"Dr. Li, from a professional point of view, do you think there will be these creatures on Europa?" Sun Zhongyong asked him directly.

"Life science is relatively rigorous, and there may be many forms of life that we don't know, so whether there will be life on Europa or not requires actual observation and scientific research before we can make an accurate judgment. In terms of angle, it is still more biased, after all, this will be a guess that everyone is looking forward to."

Li Xiaosong's speech is very characteristic, the rhythm is steady and the words are quite humble, which sounds more comfortable.

"I hope that the life you mentioned really exists on Europa."

"If there is really a large amount of liquid ocean under the ice, the probability of life is very high. Among the extremophiles, there is also a kind of psychrophile, which can survive in a low temperature environment. ability to grow and reproduce."

"Unlike other organisms, psychrophiles have many different metabolisms, such as photosynthesis, chemoautotrophy, heterotrophy, and the formation of robust, diverse populations. Most psychrophiles are bacteria or archaea, and they It is also widely distributed in microbial lineages. Because the temperature of Europa is far away from the sun and is affected by Jupiter's gravity, it can receive very little solar wind radiation. Such low temperature conditions are actually very suitable for many psychrophiles. biological survival."

Li Xiaosong's words brightened Sun Zhongyong's eyes: "Haha, I now believe that there will be life on Europa. Maybe there is a colorful underwater world under the ice."

"Many astrobiologists believe that Europa has life, because taking the tardigrade species on the earth, many tardigrade species can survive in the outer space environment. There are also many orthodox Scientists, they speculate that the tardigrade species themselves came to the earth from outer space." Li Xiaosong said slowly.

"There are still creatures that can survive in the outer space environment?" Sun Zhongyong was a little unconvinced.

Li Xiaosong nodded: "Yes, such as tardigrades, this kind of tardigrade is very small, but it is indeed a kind of animal. And there are many varieties. There are nearly a thousand known species. Because the individuals are too small, most of them They are no larger than 1 mm, so it is generally difficult to notice them, but they can be found everywhere, in some freshwater sediments, wet soils and water films of bryophytes."

"I know water bears!" A childish voice suddenly came in, it was Sun Zhongyong's daughter.

Sun Zhongyong looked down at his daughter: "You also know?"

"Father, you're really uneducated. Of course I know it, mom knows it, and my sister knows it, but you don't. The small submarine column has introduced tardigrades!" The girl's voice was very arrogant.

"It's really ignorant, can this tardigrade really survive in outer space?" Sun Zhongyong murmured and looked at Li Xiaosong.

Li Xiaosong nodded in confirmation: "The tardigrade can really survive in the outer space environment."

(End of this chapter)