The Resilience of Life to Astrophysical Events

Abstract Much attention has been given in the literature to the effects of astrophysical events on human and land-based life. However, little has been discussed on the resilience of life itself. Here we instead explore the statistics of events that completely sterilise an Earth-like planet with plan...

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Autores principales: David Sloan, Rafael Alves Batista, Abraham Loeb
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Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2017
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/01a6c80fe5b7410288128c16e72f7c1b
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:01a6c80fe5b7410288128c16e72f7c1b2021-12-02T11:40:58ZThe Resilience of Life to Astrophysical Events10.1038/s41598-017-05796-x2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/01a6c80fe5b7410288128c16e72f7c1b2017-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-05796-xhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Much attention has been given in the literature to the effects of astrophysical events on human and land-based life. However, little has been discussed on the resilience of life itself. Here we instead explore the statistics of events that completely sterilise an Earth-like planet with planet radii in the range 0.5–1.5R ⊕ and temperatures of ∼300 K, eradicating all forms of life. We consider the relative likelihood of complete global sterilisation events from three astrophysical sources – supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, large asteroid impacts, and passing-by stars. To assess such probabilities we consider what cataclysmic event could lead to the annihilation of not just human life, but also extremophiles, through the boiling of all water in Earth’s oceans. Surprisingly we find that although human life is somewhat fragile to nearby events, the resilience of Ecdysozoa such as Milnesium tardigradum renders global sterilisation an unlikely event.David SloanRafael Alves BatistaAbraham LoebNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-5 (2017)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Medicine
R
Science
Q
spellingShingle Medicine
R
Science
Q
David Sloan
Rafael Alves Batista
Abraham Loeb
The Resilience of Life to Astrophysical Events
description Abstract Much attention has been given in the literature to the effects of astrophysical events on human and land-based life. However, little has been discussed on the resilience of life itself. Here we instead explore the statistics of events that completely sterilise an Earth-like planet with planet radii in the range 0.5–1.5R ⊕ and temperatures of ∼300 K, eradicating all forms of life. We consider the relative likelihood of complete global sterilisation events from three astrophysical sources – supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, large asteroid impacts, and passing-by stars. To assess such probabilities we consider what cataclysmic event could lead to the annihilation of not just human life, but also extremophiles, through the boiling of all water in Earth’s oceans. Surprisingly we find that although human life is somewhat fragile to nearby events, the resilience of Ecdysozoa such as Milnesium tardigradum renders global sterilisation an unlikely event.
format article
author David Sloan
Rafael Alves Batista
Abraham Loeb
author_facet David Sloan
Rafael Alves Batista
Abraham Loeb
author_sort David Sloan
title The Resilience of Life to Astrophysical Events
title_short The Resilience of Life to Astrophysical Events
title_full The Resilience of Life to Astrophysical Events
title_fullStr The Resilience of Life to Astrophysical Events
title_full_unstemmed The Resilience of Life to Astrophysical Events
title_sort resilience of life to astrophysical events
publisher Nature Portfolio
publishDate 2017
url https://doaj.org/article/01a6c80fe5b7410288128c16e72f7c1b
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