Weird Life

The search for alternative life forms—also known as “weird life”—received a major boost with the announcement by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) that three new species of bacteria, which are not found on Earth and are highly resistant to ultra-violet radiation, have been discovered in the upper stratosphere.

This probably implies that life may exist almost anywhere—in conditions that are considered hostile for human life or even carbon-based life in general. Alien life forms may be hidden right here on Earth—in toxic arsenic lakes (as in Mono Lake in California) or in boiling deep sea hydrothermal vents.

Interestingly, scientists have found microbes in Mono Lake that get their energy from arsenic. Though arsenic is poisonous for humans, it has chemical properties that make it ideal for microbes. What is toxic for us is an elixir of life for other forms of organisms—organisms with slightly different genetic code or different amino acids or which have more drastic differences. Maybe one or more elements that life uses—carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus—could be replaced by something else.

In short, it’s probably safe to assume that life can exist almost anywhere—in "heaven" or in "hell"—and probably in different forms, beyond our knowledge and maybe even beyond our imagination.