[HN Gopher] Hidden ocean the source of carbon dioxide on Jupiter...
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       Hidden ocean the source of carbon dioxide on Jupiter moon
        
       Author : Brajeshwar
       Score  : 40 points
       Date   : 2023-09-22 14:56 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (phys.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (phys.org)
        
       | Tempest1981 wrote:
       | Related discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37602239
        
       | xwdv wrote:
       | Does anyone else think that if news of underwater life on Europa
       | being found is announced someday the reaction from the general
       | public will be something like "Meh, cool. Now what about the
       | economy or who is dating who?"
       | 
       | New creatures being discovered in Earth's deepest oceans don't
       | really even make most news. Europa is just a deeper ocean.
        
         | AnotherGoodName wrote:
         | When i was young we didn't know for sure that planets outside
         | the solar system even existed. There were even some theories
         | that planets could be extremely rare and our solar system was
         | special. I think life is in the same category as extra solar
         | planets once were. So yes.
        
         | jl6 wrote:
         | The most likely scenario is that it would be microbes, but even
         | microbes would be pretty amazing if they turned out to be based
         | on something other than DNA/RNA or proved sufficiently distinct
         | from Earth life to suggest a second abiogenesis event.
        
           | tessierashpool wrote:
           | it's more interesting if they're _not_ that different from
           | Earth life. many species of fungi, bacteria, and lichen can
           | survive in space. it 's not just tardigrades. they're not a
           | fluke; they're part of a pattern.
           | 
           | I think it's extremely likely that we'll not only find life
           | is very common, but that _many species_ found on earth are
           | also found on other planets.
        
         | nico wrote:
         | That's pretty much the whole plot of the movie Don't look up
         | 
         | The Extrapolations series on Apple TV also touches on this
        
         | egeozcan wrote:
         | > the reaction from the general public will be something like
         | "Meh, cool. Now what about the economy or who is dating who?"
         | 
         | That wouldn't be annoying me much, if at all.
         | 
         | The possibly infinite conspiracy theories and misinformation
         | making it probably impossible to follow the developments
         | without getting confused on the other hand...
        
         | BurningFrog wrote:
         | If it's not intelligent life we can talk to, that seems about
         | right.
         | 
         | Not sure what else we would do?
        
         | cmrdporcupine wrote:
         | TBH if life is there or anywhere in our solar system it'd 99%
         | chance be single-celled bacteria/archaea type life.. because
         | that's what like 80% of Earth's history has been... and yes...
         | I think you'll find most of the population would probably give
         | it a shrug.
         | 
         | If you found multicellular crawly life "like us", sure, people
         | would be excited. I also think that's exceedingly unlikely. If
         | life itself here is a "fluke", eukaryotic life is wayyyyy more
         | of a fluke.
        
         | fnordpiglet wrote:
         | I think if you judge the general public by TikTok views,
         | probably. But science isn't a general public topic. That's ok,
         | there's a few hundred million of us science fans which is
         | enough for me to feel thoroughly socialized.
        
       | nuc1e0n wrote:
       | Well the cracks on the Europan surface were already suggestive of
       | volcanism and this carbon dioxide detection is now more evidence
       | for that. Nice
        
       | pbj1968 wrote:
       | Is the NASA budget being threatened again? They start running
       | "ice on the moon!!!" and predictable variants every time their
       | budget is at risk. And I say this as a firm believer of research
       | being a much better use of government money than many other
       | entanglements.
        
         | fnordpiglet wrote:
         | I mean, it always is, but if you read the article, it's more
         | about exploration of the chemistry of Europa via Webb. Ice on
         | the moon is already well established, hence the desire to build
         | a lunar base on the South Pole. But nasas funding has more to
         | do with which state it'll be spent in than anything else.
        
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       (page generated 2023-09-24 23:00 UTC)