One step closer to Vedic version of extraterrestrial life

Before we read what the modern scientists have recently said, let us see what Srila Prabhupada said quoting Bhagavad Gita, spoken by Lord Krishna more than 5000 years ago:

“In the Bhagavad-gétä (2.24) we find that the living entities are sarva-gata, which means that they can go anywhere. This indicates that there are living entities everywhere. They exist on land, in water, in air, in fire and in ether. Thus there are living entities in all types of material elements. Since the entire material universe is composed of five elements—earth, water, fire, air and ether—why should there be living entities on one planet and not others? Such a foolish version can never be accepted by Vedic students. From the Vedic literatures we understand that there are living entities on each and every planet, regardless of whether the planet is composed of earth, water, fire or air. These living entities may not have the same forms that are found on this planet earth, but they have different forms composed of different elements. Even on this earth we can see that the forms of land animals are different from the forms of aquatics. According to the circumstance, living conditions differ, but undoubtedly there are living entities everywhere. Why should we deny the existence of living entities on this or that planet? Those who have claimed to have gone to the moon have not gone there, or else with their imperfect vision they cannot actually perceive the particular type of living entities there.”

It is clearly mentioned that living entities exist everywhere, on all planets and in all kinds of known and unknown atmospheres, including fire. In fire? Yes, that’s the difference between, what is called descending knowledge and ascending knowledge. Knowledge received from higher authorities, who are aware of the truth, that is. descending knowledge, is superior to the knowledge received after loads of experiments. We have experience of hearing every now and then how the previously thought theories were wrong. Such mistakes are unavoidable when it comes to human beings, especially when they want to think and live independent of the Supreme Lord. On the other hand, Vedic knowledge, which exists from time immemorial and comes directly from the Supreme Lord, is descending knowledge and is not only permanent but infallible.

All these years the modern scientists have been hunting for water in order to find life on other planets. Here is what the new research says:

Washington: Researchers have revealed that alien life might be able to thrive on an exotic kind of carbon dioxide instead of water.

Carbon dioxide can exist as a solid, liquid and gas, but past a critical point of combined temperature and pressure, it can enter a “supercritical” state.This “supercritical” carbon
dioxide  has features of both liquids and gases and could be key to extraterrestrial organisms much as water has been to biology on Earth.

The critical point for carbon dioxide is about 88 degrees Fahrenheit and about 73 times Earth’s atmospheric pressure at sea level. This is about equal in pressure to that found nearly a half-mile under the ocean’s surface. Supercritical carbon dioxide is increasingly used in a variety of applications, such as decaffeinating coffee beans and dry cleaning.

The researchers noted that enzymes can be more stable in supercritical carbon dioxide than in water. In addition, supercritical carbon dioxide makes enzymes more specific about the molecules they bind to, leading to fewer unnecessary side reactions.

In addition, exotic locales on Earth support the idea that life can survive in environments rich in carbon dioxide. Previous studies showed that microbes can live near pockets of liquid carbon dioxide trapped under Earth’s oceans.

Dirk Schulze-Makuch, an astrobiologist at Washington State University in Pullman, said that this liquid carbon dioxide in the seafloor gets denser with greater depth, as the weight of the seas and rock above it increases.

Since carbon dioxide is a very common molecule in planetary atmospheres, the researchers suggested that supercritical carbon dioxide may be present on many worlds. This is especially true for Venus, whose atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide.

(With Agency Inputs)