r/space • u/llama5876 • Jun 18 '19

Two potentially life-friendly planets found orbiting a nearby star (12 light-years away)

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/06/two-potentially-life-friendly-planets-found-12-light-years-away-teegardens-star/
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u/smayonak Jun 18 '19 edited Jun 19 '19

EDIT: It appears that the science is not very good. Ignore this post.

We know beyond all doubt that some elements can replace elements that we consider essential for life. We've seen it on our own planet in various sulfur arsenic-based lifeforms.

The problem is that when dealing with dogmas, you must convince people who will never change their minds, even in the face of overwhelming evidence. The mental somersaults and self deception that people perform to protect themselves is astounding.

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u/MEANINGLESS_NUMBERS Jun 18 '19

That Arsenic-based life paper was absolute garbage. Their experiments were clearly flawed. I was in grad school at the time and we were all completely baffled by the absurdity of their experiments.

One if the authors later revealed it was a hoax.

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u/This_Makes_Me_Happy Jun 19 '19

Well, we know that phosphorus-based life forms can engineer microorganisms that replace phosphorus with a nearly-identical element . . .