Astrovirology, Astrobiology, Artificial Intelligence: Extra-Solar System Investigations

Abstract

This chapter attempts to encompass and tackle a large problem in Astrovirology and Astrobiology. There is a huge anthropomorphic prejudice that although life is unlikely, the just-right Goldilocks terrestrial conditions mean that the just-right balance of minerals and basic small molecules inevitably result in life as we know it throughout our solar system, galaxy, and the rest of the universe. Moreover, when such conditions on planets such as ours may not be quite right for the origin of life, it is popularly opined that asteroids and comets magically produce life or at the very least, the important, if not crucial components of terrestrial life so that life then blooms, when their fragments cruise the solar system, stars, and galaxies, and plummet onto appropriately bedecked planets and moons. It is no longer extraordinary to detect extraterrestrial solar systems. Moreover, since extra-solar system space exploration has commenced, this provides the problem of detecting life with enhanced achievability. Small organisms, which replicate outside of a living cell or host, would not be catalogued as viruses. How about viruses that cohabit with life? On the Earth, viruses are a major, if underestimated, condition of life-will that be the case elsewhere? Detection of extra-solar system viruses, if they exist, requires finding life, since viruses necessitate life to replicate. (It should be noted, though, that viruses could be detected through various types of portable ultra-microscopes, including Electron Microscopes (EM) (scanning and transmission) as well as Atomic Force Microscopes (AFM).) However, extra-solar system detection of life does not oblige that viruses exist ubiquitously. Viruses are important potential components of biospheres because of their multiple interactions and influence on evolution, although viruses are small and obligatory parasitic. In addition, nanotechnology-living or replicating nano-synthetic machine organisms might also be present out there, and require consideration as well. An imposing caveat is that, if found, could some extraterrestrial viruses and synthetic nanotechnological microorganisms infect humans? This chapter is dedicated to Ettore Majorana, who changed the view of the universe.

Stories of Astrobiology, SETI, and UAPs: Science and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life in German News Media From 2009 to 2022

“…From a risk communication perspective, however, the almost complete absence of risk in this frame is arguably problematic. Risks such as the introduction of extraterrestrial pathogens to Earth can be a realistic threat (Griffin, 2013; Shapshak, 2019). Although institutions like NASA and ESA run planetary protection programs that among other goals intend to prevent backward contamination of Earth by those pathogens, mainstream media coverage of SETL should inform the public about not only these potential risks but also the measures that are taken to minimize these risks.…”