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Published online 19 October 2007 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2007.176
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Do super-Earths have geology suited to life?
Debate erupts over whether alien planets have active plate tectonics.
The discovery in recent years of a handful of rocky planets orbiting stars outside the Solar System has scientists wondering whether those planets are as suitable as Earth for life. This month, two research groups have entered the debate by butting heads over whether active plate tectonics are likely on such planets.
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Have any high detail computer models (however imprecise) been run on the subject?
above we see a picture of such a "super-Earth", and a small red disc - its sun(?)- in behind, all from ESO(!). "nature" is not for experts in astrophysics. till today we see the fixstars only pointlike and their planets(?)only indirectely. looking at arxiv ... the author-quartett has published within a few month 4(in words: four!) articles on the same subject giving us "Detailed Models of super-Earth ...". I'm impressed! Who outside Harvard has such a priviledge on getting published? (in case you print this -if anyway- only "moderated", tell it to the reader)
Uniqueness Of Earth Life The farthest we go in reductionism in Life we shall still end up with wholism, until we arrive at energy. Energy is the base element of everything and of all in the universe. The universe and evrything in it are continuously evolving and all the evolutions are intertwined. Since the Universe, including its sub-systems, one of which is Life, is a continuously evolving fractal system, ergo energy is the base element of everything and individual genes, the base energy carriers, are the base elements of Life. Cosmic evolution is evolution of energy, and within it Life's evolution is the evolution of the genes/energy-quanta carriers. At the beginning was the energy singularity. At the end will be near zero mass and an infinite dispersion of the beginning energy. In-between, the universe undergoes continuous evolution, consisting of myriad energy-to-energy and energy-to-mass-to-energy transformations. The cosmos evolution process comprises, though, phenomena of forms of temporary energy storage pockets, energy dispersion constraints. Examples of such temporary pockets are black holes of all sizes, and all forms of biospheres, if/wherever they are. The temporary constrained energy pockets are far-removed versions, up-fractionally evolved, scattered cosmic fragmants of singularity-akin energy sources. Energy stored in the temporary constrained energy pockets resists dispersion; we do not yet comprehend why and how. However, we comprehend that we, all Earth life, are real virtual products evolved from Earth's Biosphere energy, for maintaining Earth's biosphere bio as long as possible. Earth's life is a uniquely Earth's Biosphere phenomena, and all species of life - of which presently are known 1.8 million genomes - are interdependent, having evolved from-and-with Earth's Biosphere and doing their task to maintain this Biosphere Bio. Dov Henis