Intergalactic Spores

[Queso]

could it be that this strange mushroom fungi was dispersed from another planet?

 

and it just so happened to land right here, in a nice meadow

for an underevolved, curious primate looks down at some dung

and notices a small psilocybe umbrella...

BINGO!

a light goes on. (conciousness)

 

yes yes i know, far-fetched theory. my main question is this:

 

is it possible that mushrooms spores can travel through outerspace undamaged?

 

and even if they could, how would get get through earths atmosphere without burning to a crisp?

 

maybe they could have been lodged inside of a meteor, unharmed as it fiercefully rocketed towards the ground burning and smashed into the earth.

 

meh, what do you guys think about all of this?

[Queso]

some people believe that psilocybe mushrooms are the microphone of the overmind...

[armofreek]

i dont think an actual mushroom, being edible, can puncture a planets atmosphere. It would also need oxygen to survive... There is the possibility of an air pocket inside of a meteorite, full of mushrooms, crashing into earth. would the fungus just burn away in the explosion, or would particles of spore be spread to the earth, and begin a new era of life....:shrug:

[Queso]

spore, mr. chanchanian

the spore is a microscopic fungi seed.

not an actual mushroom flying thru space.

hehe

[Loricybin]

although this puts a hilarious image in my mind of a panicking mushroom family bracing for impact in a pocketing rocketing meteorite

[Queso]

come on guys, i am looking for some serious scientific insight on this.

[Loricybin]

well would it be possible for something that light to enter the atmosphere at all without being propelled?

then again gravity propells it inward. . .

 

 

i don't know much about this sort of thing, but my brain is giving me this possibility:

 

the intense heat on re-entry is due to friction, resistance on the craft, yes?

 

so wouldn't something as tiny and light as spores be unable to get through our atmoshpere's boundaries? Get pushed outward like a wall is blocking it?

 

then there is that goofy meteor theory.

well, maybe i'm horribly wrong, and i don't doubt it

[infamous]

come on guys, i am looking for some serious scientific insight on this.

I was just watching a special on Natural Geographic Channel about meteors and the point was made that; Meteors are very cold when they enter earth's atmosphere. Fairly close to absolute zero in fact, and are only exposed to the heat of atmospheric friction for a brief time because they are moving so fast. When they hit the earth, the center of the meteor is usually still cold enough to prevent the heating to penetrate clear thru to the core. It is very likely that a frozen spore or for that matter, a virus and even a bacterium could survive the trip as long as they could take the cold of outer space and the meteor was large enough to maintain the core temperature below that which would otherwise kill it's contents ............................good thought Orby...............Infy

[coldcreation]

I was just watching a special on Natural Geographic Channel about meteors and the point was made that; Meteors are very cold when they enter earth's atmosphere. Fairly close to absolute zero in fact, and are only exposed to the heat of atmospheric friction for a brief time because they are moving so fast. When they hit the earth, the center of the meteor is usually still cold enough to prevent the heating to penetrate clear thru to the core. It is very likely that a frozen spore or for that matter, a virus and even a bacterium could survive the trip as long as they could take the cold of outer space and the meteor was large enough to maintain the core temperature below that which would otherwise kill it's contents ............................good thought Orby...............Infy

 

Indeed Infy, you've got several good points.

 

My thoughts on your initial post orbsycli: It should be possible for spores to enter the atmophere without burning up, as long as the angle of entery was oblique, and as long as velocity was low.

 

The question is where would they come from. The short answer is from just about anywhere. They may not have been formed in the solar system.

You know that something like 17,000 tons of dust and other matter falls to earth from space every day (I think).

 

Certain theories have it that life here began form extraterrestrial spores and other organic material.

 

Your choosing the hallucinogenic muchroom spore sounds as if you think the effect from eating them is out-of-this-world. Whether they (or any other complex organic material) originally came from the bottom of the oceans near volcanos, from the interface where oceans (and other bodies of water) meet land, or form outer space, are really open questions.

 

cc

[coldcreation]

posted twice for some reason (deleted)

[HydrogenBond]

Although this is possible, if life formed elsewhere, why not directly on the earth? This scenario may increase the odds of life on earth, but the need for those extra odds are only due to a lack of logical progression theory, and far too much dependance on random events.

 

Instead of looking at the DNA for answers, we should look at the one variable that is common to the DNA, RNA, proteins and water; hydrogen bonding. How about a simple potential that moves the average hydrogen bonding up the ladder of potential. All of evolving life reflects progressing equilibrium. Random is there for variety, but progression toward humans is a logical extrapolation of the average hydrogen potential.

[HydrogenBond]

Although this is possible, if life formed elsewhere, why not directly on the earth? This scenario may increase the odds of life on earth, but the need for those extra odds are only due to a lack of logical progression theory, and far too much dependance on random events.

 

Instead of looking at the DNA for answers, we should look at the one variable that is common to the DNA, RNA, proteins and water; hydrogen bonding. How about a simple potential that moves the average hydrogen bonding up the ladder of this single potential. Evolving life from the soup of life reflects progressing hydrogen proton equilibrium. Random is there for variety, but progression toward humans is a logical extrapolation of the average hydrogen proton potential.

 

A rock is not living because it is only dependant on electrons to define its chemical nature. Life is different. It uses electrons to define its chemical nature but also uses the hydrogen proton by which to express all its important structures and dynamics, including the functioning of the DNA.

[questor]

how does a hydrogen atom perform these functions? why is a hydrogen atom in life different from a hydrogen atom in inert material? what is the intuitive force that instigates these reactions?

[EWright]

I want to know how the mushrooms spores escaped the gravitational confines of their own planet to begin with? Maybe some Grateful Dead-following aliens had them smuggled onto their space ship before coming to earth for a hippie concert... :xparty:

[Queso]

aliens, of course.

they wanted to communicate with is telepathically.

the only way to do that is send us a microphone,

the microphone of the overmind. :xparty:

 

the psilocybin chemical is a lot more than just something you take a grateful dead concert (not something i personally would want to do)

[Turtle]

I want to know how the mushrooms spores escaped the gravitational confines of their own planet to begin with?

 

___The same way that Martian meteorites arrive on Earth, i.e. from an impactor on Mars blasting material out into space at escape velocity. Moreover any meteoritic material arriving on Earth of any derivation (comet, meteroid, moon, planet, etc.) has its origins in collisions & near miss gravitational sling-shotting.:xparty:

[Taraxanoid]

Mushrooms (or "mushies/shrooms/mush/murooms") have been under long observation by the worlds least renowned of scientists. Every year, particularly in Autumn (or "Fall"), Mushroom and other Fungi studying Scientists (Fungologists), wake up in the wee hours of the morning to collect Mushroom samples - alive. They house them in a semi-hydroponic mix and spend over 4 months catering for and accomodating these little Fungi friends until they pay what they are charged, pay for whatever they drank from the bar fridge and surreptitiously take a few of those small towels draped over the bedsheets. In fact, Fungologists have long since known about the deviously high intelligence of which Mushrooms have posessed. Toadstools.. Slightly less so. But never-the-less, Fungi has been travelling the galaxies for inhabitable planets using the highly advanced technology they pioneered over 1.2 billion years ago. Earth was just about to be overrun by an invading race of Mushroom/Toadstool hybrids, 22,000 years ago, until small mammals experimented with the tasting of these Fungal creatures.

Only 17.6% of the invaders remain. They've all lost hope of ever invading another planet again, after they've been known to make a "mean Chicken and Mushroom soup".