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the royal astronomical society announced

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new findings that add support to the

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possibility of life in the atmosphere of

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our neighboring planet venus

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[Music]

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i'm jason and today we're going to take

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a quick look at this latest announcement

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and add a few similar announcements that

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have occurred in the past

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on monday september 14th the royal

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astronomical society held a press

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conference

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to announce the discovery of a rare

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molecule called phosphine

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in the clouds of venus the press release

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explains that quote

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on earth this gas is only made

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industrially

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or by microbes that thrive in oxygen

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free environments end quote

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so what does that mean mit scientist dr

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william baines

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who was part of the press conference

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explained that there are two

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possibilities

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there could be some completely unknown

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reaction that is creating phosphine

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or the more exciting one that it could

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be life

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researchers used the james clerk maxwell

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telescope in hawaii

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to observe light passing through venus

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atmosphere

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light is absorbed at very specific and

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unique wavelengths by atoms and

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molecules

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when researchers looked at the

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absorption spectrum they noticed a gap

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at the wavelength of phosphine

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indicating the phosphine is present

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and absorbing light passing through the

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atmosphere it's not really the phosphine

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by itself that has researchers excited

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it's the relatively large quantity of

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phosphine

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here on earth natural things like

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volcanic activity and lightning can

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generate phosphine

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but only in small amounts according to

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the researchers

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the only thing on earth that are known

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to produce phosphine in similar

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quantities

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are biological in origin this is an

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awesome discovery

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and it has scientists and astrobiology

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enthusiasts like myself

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pretty excited and it's certainly not

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surprising to see many ufo researchers

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and enthusiasts

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excited about this discovery as well but

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with astrobiology announcements like

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this

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which are becoming more and more common

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it's always important to listen to what

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the discovery

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actually is and resist distorting or

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exaggerating the findings

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although researchers love the big t's to

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get attention on the research

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they always responsibly emphasize that

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no this doesn't mean alien life was

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discovered

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of course we saw that with this latest

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announcement where the team made it

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clear

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that these findings simply present

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another possible indication

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of microbial life we've had many such

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indications over the years regarding

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several different worlds in our solar

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system

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but as one of my favorite

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astrobiologists dr sarah seeger from mit

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explained during this recent press

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conference

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we can't prove life is on another world

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until we go there

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again for you space geeks this is

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amazing

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exciting research but for all the people

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hyping this announcement into something

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that it's not

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the first time research like this has

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been published an announcement of life

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on venus

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or some weird coordinated government

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effort to slowly condition the public to

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the reality that we're not alone in the

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universe

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well your efforts are a bit misguided

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our solar system is

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filled with places that might be home to

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life although earth and mars are the

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only two planets here

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that fall within the traditional

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habitable zone the places where life can

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exist continue to expand as our

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understanding of life as we know it

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expands

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our search for extraterrestrial life is

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limited to life as we know it

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because that's all we know we know

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what's required to sustain life here on

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our planet

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so astrobiologists use that knowledge

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when looking for signs of life on other

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worlds

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here on earth scientists find life

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thriving in extreme environments

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previously thought to be uninhabitable

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and that knowledge is added to our

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understanding of life as we know it

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which expands the possible places for

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life to exist on other worlds

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as more scientific instruments launched

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into space the field of astrobiology

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exploded this has led to many exciting

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announcements over the years

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announcements similar to the one about

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venus we just saw

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in 2013 the hubble space telescope data

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revealed water vapor from jupiter's moon

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europa

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ocean with two to three times the volume

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of all the liquid water on earth

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astrobiologists get excited about water

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because when it comes to life as we know

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it

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where there's water there's life but

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life as we know it requires an energy

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source

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to sustain metabolism so when

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researchers announced the discovery of

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widespread hydrogen peroxide on europa

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in 2013 it was a big deal

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space.com explained quote an analysis of

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infrared observation of europa

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revealed that hydrogen peroxide is

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abundant on the ice-covered jovian moon

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end quote the studies lead scientist

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kevin hand of nasa's jet propulsion

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laboratory

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explained quote europa has the liquid

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water and elements

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and we think that compounds like

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peroxide might be an important part of

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the energy requirement

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the availability of oxidants like

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peroxide on earth

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was a critical part of the rise of

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complex multicellular life

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end quote as space.com pointed out the

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extensive peroxide excites

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astrobiologists

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because it's quote a boon for the

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potential habitability of the icy moon's

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water ocean

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end quote when peroxide mixes with water

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oxygen is released

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so based on that study there's real

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potential for life in europa's ocean

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nasa's cassini spacecraft discovered

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that saturn's moon enceladus

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has an atmosphere and the geysers of

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water are erupting from its surface into

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space

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and in 2015 cassini data showed that

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quote these geysers contain complex

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organic compounds

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including propane ethylene and acetylene

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end quote

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nasa astrobiologist chris mckay told the

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guardian that enceladus is the perfect

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place to look for life

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he explained quote he's got liquid water

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organic material

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and a source of heat it's hard to think

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of anything more enticing

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short of receiving a radio signal from

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aliens on enceladus

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to tell us come and get them end quote

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let's keep bouncing around the solar

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system

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in 2012 large amounts of water ice and

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possible

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organic compounds were discovered on the

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planet mercury

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this discovery was a weird one because

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it included a strange dark material

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that researchers believe is likely quote

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a mixture of complex organic compounds

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the carbon containing building blocks of

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life as we know it end quote

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and it could be the same type of organic

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material that ultimately gave rise to

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life

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on earth even our friend mars has had

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its share of exciting astrobiology

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announcements in recent years

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there was even a conference in 2013

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co-hosted by the nasa astrobiology

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institute

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and the uk center for astrobiology

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titled the present-day habitability of

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mars

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that highlighted findings that were new

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at the time like the discovery of a

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widespread energy source

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and abundant water on mars then there's

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the exciting world of titan

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nasa scientists really hyped up the fact

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that they may have discovered life on

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saturn's moon titan

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back in 2012 by using data from the

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cassini spacecraft to study the moon's

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chemically

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complex surface based on their research

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scientists say that it's possible that a

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quote primitive exotic form of life or

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precursor to life

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may exist on titan end quote what the

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researchers found was that hydrogen gas

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in titan's atmosphere

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disappeared at the moon's surface and as

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the telegraph explained

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this suggests that alien life forms

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could be breathing on titan additionally

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researchers noted the lack of the

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chemical compound acetylene at titan's

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surface

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chris mckay an astrobiologist at nasa's

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ames research center

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explained that quote this lack of

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acetylene is important

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because that chemical would likely be

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the best energy source for methane-based

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life on titan

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unquote scientists believed that life on

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titan would consume hydrogen

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as life on earth consumes oxygen cassini

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also detected the presence of something

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appearing to be an organic compound on

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titan's surface

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that scientists have been unable to

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identify these are just some quick

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examples of big time astrobiology

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findings from recent years

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but i can't conclude this video before

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mentioning that research published back

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in 2012

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where some scientists demonstrated their

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belief that nasa discovered life on mars

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decades ago

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a team of scientists published a paper

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in which they analyzed data collected by

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nasa's mars vikings robots in 1976

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concluding that samples were originally

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incorrectly identified by scientists

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as geologic samples rather than

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biological samples

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neuropharmacologist and biologist joseph

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miller from the university of southern

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california's keck school of medicine

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was a member of the research team and he

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told discovery news quote

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on the basis of what we've done so far

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i'd say i'm 99

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sure there's life there end quote

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astrobiology is such an exciting field

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there are many earth-based and

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space-based instruments providing

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scientists with valuable information

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like never before and there are so many

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space missions underway

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and in the planning phases specifically

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designed for the search for

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extraterrestrial life

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astrobiology is extremely active so

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there are always discoveries research

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publications and press releases

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some of these get pretty hyped up to

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generate public interest

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the public and the media love to get

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excited expecting the discovery of

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extraterrestrial life to be announced

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and these scientists love it it gets a

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lot of attention on their research and

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hopefully

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the extra attention leads to more

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funding more connections

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etc so they can continue the research as

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dr sarah seger pointed out in the press

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conference

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we need more missions to these worlds to

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get more data